Nectarine
by NiceScarlett
Summary: When she was five years old, Tsuna had half her soul locked away. Years later, she's regained her warmth...only, now she's heir to the biggest Italian mafia famiglia ever? Give her a break! Fem!27, All27, Rated M for language and suggestive themes. Warning: OOC!
1. Rebirth

Nectarine

Rebirth

 **Disclaimer: I don't own KHR**

 **Warnings: Swearing, General Dumbass-ery**

X X X X

The Rose That Grew From Concrete

Did you hear about the rose that grew

from a crack in the concrete?

Proving nature's law is wrong it

learned to walk without having feet.

Funny it seems, but by keeping its dreams,

it learned to breathe fresh air.

Long live the rose that grew from concrete

when no one else ever cared.

- _Tupac Shakur_

X X X X

When she was a little girl, Tsuna was well-liked. She was bright, and nice, and cute, so people liked her naturally. Then, when her Papa visited for the first time in many years, he brought an old man along with him. And so, when Tsuna was very young, she had half her soul locked away.

 _Tsuna looked up at her papa's face with wide eyes, still clutching the yellow ball in her hand. The toy, strangely enough, was not even singed by the tiny flames that erupted from her fingertips. Her gaze changed to the old man beside Papa, who moved a flaming finger toward her. It touched her forehead, and she knew no more._

There no longer rested the warmth in her belly that made her feel like she could breathe fire. So, her confidence dwindled to nothing. Her brain became muddled to mush. So, her smarts decayed. Slowly, her limbs grew heavier to the point where she barely knew how to use them anymore. So, her grace simply disappeared.

She was a shadow of her former self, and she felt like a corpse in her own body. Days dragged on, and her friend group slowly diminished until there was no one left. Tsuna was left alone. Eventually, she was deemed 'Dame-Tsuna' for her terrible reputation and substandard qualities. And eventually, she became used to it. She was simply an observer to her own life, and she felt as if she was watching from underneath water while the rest of the world continued on land. And damn, if that wasn't heavy.

Somehow, she needed her warmth back. She didn't care about her old friends, who all left her, or her grades or her grace. All she cared about was her poor mother, who now cried at night for her dame daughter as well as her absent husband. Tsuna was a Mama's Girl through and through.

She wasn't very aware of the warmth when she still had it, for it had been there from birth and she had never experienced life without it. Now, however, she could feel the block as vividly as a too-tight sports bra after a very sweaty workout. She was constantly uncomfortable, and she hypothesized that if she tugged on the block, it would eventually give, just like that sports bra.

So, that is what she did. Every day for years, she sat on her floor and fought with the blockage on her warmth. Sometimes, she would feel a small tear, and the old sensation of heat would grant her relief from her cold, emotionless world. She could finally hear without water in her ears, and her body was no longer caught in the riptide. Unfortunately, the reliefs were very brief and infrequent, but she craved them like a drug addict craves heroin.

 _It was two in the morning, and Tsuna had not slept at all. Instead, she remembered the feeling that warmth had given her hours prior. Her hands curled in her bedding, and a thin sheen of sweat covered her entire body. She wanted to scream, but she settled instead for crying silently into her pillow. Everything was so cold now._

It felt like centuries that she had waged her war, and with each night that she would creep out of her room and find her mother sobbing on the steps, her resolve would strengthen. She would do anything for her mother. So, as she was picturing the quiet crying, the lid on her warmth finally flipped open, and for the first time in eight years, Tsuna could finally feel content. Her metaphorical boobs were flying free in the wind, finally having escaped from that evil sports bra.

An orange flame barely touched her fingertips, but Tsuna didn't even notice her singed skin.

X X X X

The change was not noticed immediately, but slowly people realized that Dame-Tsuna no longer tripped on thin air, and that her grades were no longer dismal. The fourteen year-old was not the same person she was months ago. Some had approached her after a few months, to question her on the change. She, however, ignored them. It was not Tsuna's job to cater to sheeple.

In her prison, Tsuna had grown harsher. She let the cold take her and change her, and it didn't leave much left. She got a few (metaphorical) regrettable tattoos, and drank some suspicious wine that was brewed in the back of a toilet (metaphorically). She still cared more than others, and her heart was still abnormally large, but she no longer wore it on her sleeve in fear of getting hurt again. Instead, she preferred to remain alone and wanted nothing to do with the friends who abandoned her years prior. She didn't need them, so she didn't want them. The only person Tsuna could trust in this life was her mother, and no one else.

So, she went to school, took notes, ate lunch in her usual secluded spot, and left. When she arrived home, she filled her time with homework and meaningless hobbies and helped her mother with dinner. Absently, Tsuna realized that she was as much an active member of life as she was when she was still underwater; she just had better grades.

"Shit."

And so, Tsuna went on a quest for passion, and started by looking at the people from her school. Yamamoto Takeshi-kun, Sasagawa Ryohei, and Hibari Kyoya all had passion - the most passion she had ever seen. So, she asked them. She started with the least crazy of the bunch. She'd work her way up.

"Excuse me, Yamamoto-san, may I speak to you for a second?" She said after class, after tapping him on the shoulder. Yamamoto looked startled, but nodded hesitantly. "Where do you get your passion?" She asked, her face bright and eyes wide; a strand of hair fell in front of her face, but she ignored it. A hue of red reached Yamamoto's cheeks, she noted, but she wasn't sure why.

"Um…" He seemed at a loss, as he scratched the back of his neck. "I just really love baseball, I guess!" He grinned brightly, but it seemed off somehow. It was almost like someone tried to replicate a very handsome painting, but they couldn't quite capture the feeling of the original. Perhaps he was underwater too. Tsuna nodded understandingly, and gently patted his shoulder in what she hoped was a comforting way.

"That's fantastic," she said, while smiling slightly. "I wish I could love something so greatly. Thank you for your help." Then, she bowed and exited the room, oblivious to Yamamoto's blush or the murmurings of the class she left behind. She had to talk to Sasagawa-senpai.

The boxing club's designated room was not as messy as she imagined, but it certainly was as loud as she thought it would be. That wasn't surprising, because Sasagawa-senpai was objectively the loudest person in their school. She wasn't kidding; there was a survey. She knocked before entering.

Luckily, Sasagawa was the only person in the room at the time. Unfortunately, he seemed preoccupied with the punching bag in front of him. Tsuna didn't have anywhere to be, however, so she watched for a while. He was certainly something to look at, and Tsuna wasn't talking about his rugged good looks (for the most part), or anything. Instead, she observed his form, and the way he knew exactly when to hit and where. He never faltered, and never hesitated. At this point, though, Tsuna thought she was acting borderline creepy and really stalker-ish, and cleared her throat loudly to get his attention.

"Excuse me, Sasagawa-senpai. Sorry to interrupt," she said clearly. "but I have a question to ask." Sasagawa looked up, and Tsuna could see his eyes go wide in surprise. He removed his gloves and approached her slowly. She took this as his consent for her to continue speaking. "So, I was wondering...how are you so passionate?" Sasagawa's brow furrowed for a second, before he replied.

"I'm EXTREMELY passionate about boxing because I love all aspects of boxing!" he exclaimed. "Boxing is the most EXTREME sport around, and when I box I get pumped up with a feeling I don't get from anything else! Boxing is my passion!" Sasagawa's eyes lit up, and Tsuna had to smile with him. He did seem pretty fucking extreme.

"So you're passionate about boxing because of the way you feel?" He nodded. "I get that. You seemed really into it when I came in; I think you looked beautiful." She smiled genuinely while Sasagawa's face went red. Maybe there was a virus going around. "Have a nice day, Senpai!"

Tsuna exited while Sasagawa yelled one final "EXTREME!"

Finally, Tsuna knocked on the door that led to Hibari-senpai's office. Internally, she admitted that she was slightly afraid, and honestly thought about backing out right now. Her resolve won over, however, just as the was door opened by Kusakabe Tetsuya.

"Excuse me, Kusakabe-senpai, is Hibari-senpai in?" she asked pleasantly, and before Kusakabe-senpai could answer, a heavy hand landed on the doorway.

"What do you want, herbivore." Hibari-senpai stood at the doorway, his form taller than hers and intimidating as hell. Tsuna stilled her nerves however, and straightened her shoulders: her first mistake. In front of an animalistic superior, always show submission.

"I have a question to ask, if you'll allow me." She paused for approval, and was awarded with stone cold silence. Regardless, she continued: her second mistake. "Where does your passion come from?" she asked, and Hibari-senpai glared.

"I have no use for pointless questions from herbivores. For your idiocy, I will bite you to death." Apparently, she picked a bad day to bother him. Or maybe Hibari-senpai was very irritated every day. Caught up in her thoughts, she reflexively dodged the tonfa heading straight toward her: her third mistake. Black, harsh eyes widened slightly, before glinting madly with bloodlust.

' _Shit.'_

More and more blows followed, and each time she dodged instinctively. Apparently, the return of the warmth had lowered her body's self-preservation instincts. When getting beaten by Hibari-senpai, just get it over with quick. As she jumped over a low swipe, she started to have second thoughts on her excursion. Upon further contemplation, Tsuna came to the conclusion that her whole idea of interacting with Hibari-senpai was a mistake.

' _SHIT.'_ A tonfa grazed her ribs, and she tried to tell her body to STOP, JUST LET HIM HIT YOU AND GET IT OVER WITH. Obviously, though, both she and her body were idiots. Why would she voluntarily seek out Hibari-senpai? Who fucking cared if she lived without passion, at least she _lived_. How would her mother respond to finding out her daughter died because of sheer stupidity? Oh shit, how would her mother handle her death? It wasn't like her father was there for comfort. FUCK.

Tsuna really was an idiot, though. So because of her idiocy and her love for her mother, she let her instincts take over and actually fought back. Against Hibari fucking Kyoya. Shit.

"Fan-tucking-fastic, Tsuna. You did it now." When Tsuna panicked (which hadn't happened since she got her flames back), she got a little funny in the head...and she swore a lot, now that she thought about it. Hibari didn't so much as blink at her mutterings, which would've been commendable if she wasn't about to die by his hand.

At one point, Tsuna lost use of one arm in exchange for Hibari losing one tonfa, which managed to impress him but hurt like a bitch. At least it wasn't broken, just bruised. So they were both handicapped, but not equally because Tsuna didn't have any tonfas and now she only had one hand. Naturally, like any insane person would say, Tsuna's body took control once again and actually started _kicking HIBARI._

' _AaaaaAAAAGH!'_ was Tsuna's internal monologue at the moment, as she prayed to the only deity she knew (young Heath Ledger in _Ten Things I Hate About You_ because honestly...honestly) that this fight would end soon.

At this point, Tsuna was certain that this "warmth" thing might just be a curse in order to make her act like an insane person. Well, whatever, it was better than acting like the nervous, sweaty blob of clay that was her former self. Now that she thought about it, Hibari-senpai did seem really passionate right now. Connecting the dots, she realized that maybe in order to be passionate, she just had to become a really hot guy!

"Eureka, bitch! Call me Archimedes and have me run naked down the streets, cuz I just had a breakthrough!" Tsuna hadn't really slept in a while…

But, that caused Hibari to pause at least, and Tsuna took this time to ask him a very important question.

"Hibari-senpai, how do I become a hot guy like you?" At least she got to see that blush on his face before she was knocked out by a tonfa. Sweet relief…

X X X X

Tsuna woke up in the nurse's office, with a vague memory of how she ended up there and an ache on the back of her head that was totally wrecking her vibe. On the bright side, however, Tsuna felt super rested compared to what she's felt like before, so that was a plus.

She checked her watch, and when she realized that she wasn't smart enough to carry a watch, she checked the clock hanging above the doorway. With her fading elementary knowledge of clock reading, she could make out that it was ten minutes before school was dismissed. So, she skedaddled out faster than you could say 'Shoop!' because she was leaving this hellhole as soon as she could and she still needed to collect her things, which were three floors away. If she was lucky, she would not run into Hibari-senpai again.

Of course, luck was not on her side.

"What are you doing out of class without a hall pass, herbivore." came a voice from behind. As if she were in a horror movie, she turned slowly toward what was likely an axe-murderer instead of RUNNING. Seriously, was she born without self-preservation instincts?

"How's it going, sweetness?" Apparently so. Hibari-senpai glared and Tsuna suddenly felt a little less brave and a lot more stupid. "Not so good, then?" she said weakly, then bolted. ' _Fuck this shit; I'm out~'_ she thought. Unfortunately, her future killer thought otherwise, and _shit he was fast_. Tsuna turned, and whoop-dee-doo, fuckers, dead end.

She walked backwards slowly, until her body gently bumped into a wall. ' _Yep, this is the end. Shit, man, what's Mama gonna think? Eh, she'll get over it,'_ Mama could go on without her, probably. Tsuna was pretty useless in everyday life, warmth or no warmth. It's pretty depressing, really.

"Yo." She threw up a peace sign nonchalantly and put on her best poker face. ' _If this guy is gonna kill me, he's not gonna enjoy it.'_ In all honesty, Tsuna was pretty casual about this. Her only regret was the fact that Mama had made dinner for two tonight, and it was Tsuna's favorite. It was gonna go to waste…

That was when Tsuna was shot.

"Reborn! Defeat Hibari-senpai with my Dying Will!" That cheesy-ass line was all she remembered before she was facing Hibari-senpai's shocked and slightly amazed face, in only her undies and bra, while her skin had gained a few rough-looking bruises.

"Y'know, when I said that Archimedes' bit earlier, I didn't _really_ mean it literally. It was just sorta for comedic purposes…" She trailed off. "Now I'm all nakey and the bell's about the ring. Oh the horror." In truth, Tsuna didn't really mind if people saw her naked, and she was basically just wearing a bikini made out of different material, so it didn't really matter. That was all just societal standards, and Tsuna hated standards. Fuck The Man and fuck The System.

Just as she was about to rant about Wickard v. Filburn(1) and other evils of the government, a long, heavy coat was dropped on her shoulders. She looked up, and was met unexpectedly with the sight of Hibari-senpai's face suspiciously close to hers. She looked to the side, and found his Disciplinary Committee uniform hanging off her shoulders.

"Return it tomorrow, omnivore." He left as she was buttoning the buttons, so she soon followed after. Best be gone before the bell rings!

Tsuna was lucky the coat was so long on her, so it looked like she was simply wearing a strangely styled dress if no one got too close. On her way home, no one bothered her for looking indecent or anything like that, so she counted that as a win.

When she returned to her house, she was mildly surprised to find a weirdo in a fedora at her dining table drinking coffee pleasantly with her mother. She ignored the duo, and chose instead to collapse in her bedroom where the world made sense. Sadly, the man followed.

"Chaos, I'm Reborn" he announced, in a stupidly smooth voice. Annoyingly, she liked her voices smooth, like Alan Rickman. Maybe she should watch _Die Hard_ again...She drifted off. "I'm here to train you to become a mafia boss."

"Whaaaaaaaa?" That certainly woke her up. "Mafia boss? Fuck that." She nodded along with her words, and Reborn pistol-whipped her. "Owwww, what was that for?" she whined, clutching her sore spot. She was already covered in bruises from that fight with Hibari, she didn't need more pain to deal with.

"That was not the correct response, Dame-Tsuna," he scolded. Man, who shoved a stick up this guy's ass? Reborn hit her again. "I heard that, idiot."

"You can read minds?" she asked, her tone awed, while Reborn looked at her blankly. "That's SOOOO COOL! We can both become detectives, and you'd be like, my trusty sidekick. You'd be the Hooch to my Turner!" She grinned. "Although, we can't become detectives if you have a previous record as a hitman…" She put her finger to her lip and thought hard for a solution.

"You're gonna make a terrible mafia boss."

"Thanks~"

So Reborn filled Tsuna in on the Dying Will bullet, how he shot her, flames, sky flames, the Vongola famiglia and the deaths of all the legitimate heirs except her. She wasn't even the first choice, and they were asking her to be some crazy murderer? Nuh-uh.

"How much money does the Vongola have?" she asked, in an effort to find some sort of good side to this job.

"Too much for you to comprehend," Reborn answered. Oooooooo, she could could buy her own apartment and decorate it like a beauty guru. She could work with that. Although, she would probably have to live in the Vongola mansion if she was to become the next boss. Eh, Spontaneous was Tsuna's middle name, even if Japanese people don't have middle names. They don't have the US government system and they probably don't love _Die Hard_ , but no one's complained yet.

She was still only wearing Hibari's jacket.

"So, Reborn…" she said, her voice all trailing and shit. "Are all guy's clothes comfy like this? Cuz I'm about to go out and make a few purchases. Goddamn,"

A bullet was fired and whizzed passed her right earlobe, right into her poster of young Patrick Swayze.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Why would you do that, Reborn? How could you kill my fiance? We were going to get married in the Spring. I still love you, Patrick Swayze. I still love you." She flopped onto her mattress in uncontrollable grief. "Why have the Gods forsaken me?"

"Dame-Tsuna, Patrick Swayze died years ago." He sighed. His dark eyes were filled with frustration, which was a normal look that most got when they were around Tsuna. Truthfully, she was impressed that he was that great at hiding it. "And why haven't you put on clothes yet. You have a strange older man in your bedroom and you're doing nothing about it, all the while dressed provocatively." He said, his voice deepening suggestively at his words.

"You know, that fedora makes you look like an asshole." This time, it was her beloved poster of Rob Lowe that met its untimely end. "You MONSTER! That was one of my favorite mistresses that I cheated on Patrick Swayze with! Also, Rob Lowe is still alive and still super hot! What's your damage?"

Ultimately, that gained her a hole in her beautiful Angelina Jolie poster.

"No! Not another of my mistresses!" By then, Tsuna had learned her lesson about challenging Reborn and instead chose to walk out of the room and change into her jam-jams, even if it was still the afternoon. After that, she washed Hibari's jacket with her least womanly detergent. Hibari seemed like a crazy ass boy, and you never knew what could set those types off. Even if detergent wasn't actually a thing people can gender, they sure liked to try. So, with hesitation, Tsuna added her manliest soap to the mix, which happened to be vanilla-scented. It was a _dark_ vanilla, though, so it should be good. Coincidentally, that was also the detergent Tsuna used on her clothes most of the time.

She came back to her room a few hours later, after completing her homework, only to be met with a series of complicated and worrisome traps arranged in increasingly complicated and worrisome ways. Tsuna took one look at this mess, and immediately backtracked to the hallway.

"I'm sleeping in your room tonight, Reborn," she informed, and then retreated into the warm sheets of the guest bed for a nice night of sleep, ignoring the gunshots that came after her exit.

X X X X

When she awoke, it was to a cold floor and an aching back. She looked up with bleary eyes to the sight of Reborn in his nightcap looking entirely too smug in the bed.

"You're such a piece of shit. Fuck you." In the morning, Tsuna was a little too blunt and a little too rude. Often, this behavior did not produce pleasant results. This morning, however, Tsuna was too out of it to care. Surprisingly, she was not beaten for her conduct, but she blamed that on the fact that her mouth was too tired to produce actual words, and what Reborn had actually heard was probably just indiscernible gibberish. "Move," she said tiredly, and surprisingly, Reborn did. This was crazy OOC, but everyone is OOC in this work so Tsuna didn't really care. What she did care about was the bed in front of her and how it was mostly empty. Besides, nobody ever said this story was well-written.

When she awoke again, it was to a bullet whizzing by her ear, once again. This time, it didn't hit a poster of a hot motherfucker, so she was not as angry as she should have been. Instead, it hit the pillow below her head, and feathers got everywhere. Feathers. It looked like a bunch of goddamn chickens had a two-hour long orgy in the guest bedroom. Tsuna would have to add cleaning this shit up to her list of morning to-do's. Reborn, that fucker.

"Reborn, you fucker."

"You know, skies are supposed to be all warm and kind, but you're just a crabby mess whenever I talk to you," Reborn said in reply, his eyes twinkling in murderous rage and amusement simultaneously. Well, at least she knew that the hatred was mutual.

"What time is it?" she asked, ignoring his stupid comment, and when Reborn took too long to answer (re: more than two seconds), she looked at the clock on the bedside table instead. "FUCK! I'm late! Hibari-senpai's gonna _kill me._ " She sprang from the bed, skipped her morning shower, got undressed and dressed in less than three minutes, and _booked it_ out the door, with a piece of toast hanging out of her mouth like a stupid, typical anime girl. Whatever, Tsuna never said she was "original."

' _Shit, shit, shit,'_ was her exact thought process, which eventually transformed itself into spoken word when Hibari came into view near the front gates. "Fucking shit. Why do all the hot ones have to be batshit insane?" Unfortunately, it seemed like Hibari heard her. Shit, man. ' _Strike me down, Lord. Strike me down.'_ It would probably be less painful than what was actually happening.

"Reborn, don't you dare shoot me again!" she shouted to the heavens. Who even knew if Reborn was there, but she was not going to get arrested for indecent exposure at eight in the goddamn morning. "Oh, wait! Hibari-senpai, before you brutally murder me, I have something to return!" And so, she met up with Hibari at the gates and pulled his jacket from her bag. Thank Heath Ledger that she didn't forget it at home.

Then, she took her chance while he was distracted to _run_. It was a good thing that she'd been running from bullies from years, and that her clumsiness had disappeared with the return of her warmth. In her haste, she did not notice that Hibari wasn't even running after her, and was instead clutching his jacket with an inscrutable look in his steely eyes. He turned to look at Tsuna's retreating figure before slipping into the garment. With no one to witness it, he breathed in the scent of the Herbivore that lingered on his clothes.

She smelled like vanilla and Christmas.

Meanwhile, Tsuna was still running for her life toward the open door of her classroom. In the last remaining feet it took to get there, she sprinted inside and ended up crashing into what felt like a steel beam, real skinny and stupidly hard. Ow, her head hurt.

"Dear Alec Baldwin, what the hell was that?" She looked up, only to meet a pair of seriously angry eyes that she would very much like to get away from. "Shit, man. Why are hot guys so fucking angry all the time?" she asked to the Powers That Be. Predictably, they didn't answer. But this guy did, unfortunately.

"Who the fuck are you?" he asked, his tone harsh and belligerent. Ugh, she really wasn't going to like this guy.

"Who the fuck am _I_?" Her voice was disbelieving. "Who the fuck are _you?_ " Before they could get into too much of an argument, that tall glass of water, Yamamoto, was walking up to them and placing a calming hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, calm down, Tsuna-chan," he said, placatingly. "I'm sure he didn't mean any harm." Apparently, now that Yamamoto had done the work of calming the screaming psychos, the rest of the class had snapped out of their swearing-induced shock. The Japanese were very polite, after all.

"Sawada, Gokudera, principal's office now." The teacher said in halting, harsh words. Tsuna was tempted to say something snarky back, but at Yamamoto's pleading look, she stopped herself. Instead, she simply patted Yamamoto's cheek gently and left the room. After a bit of thought, she grabbed the new student's elbow and dragged him along with her. For some reason, the guy seemed like he was frozen in shock. For what, she didn't know. Perhaps it was about getting sent to the principal's office within ten minutes of arriving?

By the time they were halfway down the hallway, he had snapped out of it and was flailing wildly in her grasp. She let go easily, cuz she wasn't about to deal with that shit, and he stumbled for a second before righting himself. The picture of menacing.

"You're the Vongola Tenth Candidate!" He said dramatically, as if she was the villain to his southern damsel in a Nicholas Sparks novel (2). He did seem like a real Drama Queen.

"Yeah, sure," she responded, ignoring him and continuing to walk. She _would have_ just skipped, but she wasn't risking another run-in with that weirdo Hibari. However, when she sensed a projectile was being thrown at her, she had to turn around. She was met with the sight of a stick of dynamite soaring through the air, right at her head. In her panic, she spontaneously caught it and put out the flame with her fingers. "Ow, ow, ow! That hurt like a bitch! How do they do it on TV?" She turned to look at her opponent with tearing eyes. "Why are you trying to kill me now? I thought we were getting along fine!" The boy's face turned red, and he folded his arms petulantly.

"Reborn called me down here to fight the candidate. If I kill you, I automatically take your place!" he yelled. What was his name?

"Really? What a crazy loophole! Reborn!" she yelled, and the hitman appeared as if he were summoned. Speak o' the Devil. "Why didn't you tell me that before? You were going on about how the candidate had to be related by blood and shit, but this is the perfect solution! Strike me down, pretty boy! I'm into it!" Sorry to all the puppies who wouldn't be getting homes, but she never really wanted to be a mafia boss anyway. Reborn sighed, exasperated, before shooting her in the face. Again. That fucker.

"Reborn! Get a new Patrick Swayze poster with my Dying Will!" Her flaming form attempted to bypass the boy in front of her, as he really had nothing to do with her goal, but he would not budge. Interestingly, his face was even redder than it had been when she last looked at it. Perhaps he was getting sick? No matter! She would defeat him as he was in the way of her reunion with her beautiful fiance!

The next few minutes were pretty much a blur, but she _did_ remember pushing the dramatic kid down when he fucked up his own trick. Honestly, did he have any redeemable qualities? Of course, that was before he bowed down in front of her, crying and pledging his eternal loyalty. Fuck, that blow to the back _hurt_.

"I'll serve you for life, Tenth!" he cried, sparkles appearing around his face. Tsuna could almost see the puppy ears sprouting from his head.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold your horses, kiddo." She said, her hands raised in a gesture of goodwill and calm. Distantly, she realized that she was still mostly naked. "I'm not really into having, like, servants or anything? If that's okay with you." She said, uncertainty overtaking her usual confidence.

"You don't...want me?" he asked, his voice filled with sadness. Agh, now she felt like she kicked a small dog. Guilt was eating at her now, as she stared into his tear-filled eyes. Just kill her now.

"Nonononono! I want you! I want you very much!" Her hands flailed as she tried to think of soothing words. "I - just -" she struggled. "Can we be friends instead?" she said desperately.

"F-friends?" he asked. Holy Ryan Gosling, this kid was cute!

"Yes, Gokudera, friends."

Suddenly, she was tackled into a hug by an overly-excited puppy boy.

"Forgive me for my affection, Tenth!" he cried, but his grip only got tighter. "Of course, this occurrence will never happen again! I'm just a little overwhelmed with happiness right now!" Tsuna patted him on the back in comfort, while he buzzed like a kid on a sugar high. She nodded along with everything he was saying. Suddenly, though, he leaped back like a man possessed, covering his eyes and red cheeks.

"You're naked!" He shouted, as if he had just noticed even though she had been in this state for little less than half an hour. He panicked slightly, very similar to how she was acting earlier, and frantically discarded his jacket to drape it over her shoulders. Was this going to happen every time she was shot?

"Thank God it wore off before you could actually buy that poster." In her frenzied state, she had completely forgotten that Reborn was there. "I should've expected that your dying regret would be something stupid." His drawl was slow and smug, and his black eyes twinkled with annoyance and laughter.

"Christ, you psychopath, give me some warning next time," she said as she buttoned Gokudera's jacket. It began lower than she would've liked, so a good portion of her chest was exposed. It would have to do, though. She slowly rose to her feet. "Well, I've abandoned this 'Principal's Office' idea entirely, so I'm gonna go home and change clothes. You can come along if you want, Gokudera."

X X X X

When he arrived in Namimori, Reborn was expecting Dame-Tsuna, a useless girl with sealed sky flames. What he got, however, was Sawada Tsunami, a lone wolf with a strong aura of flames and a harsh tongue.

Obviously, his information was out of date, and he was going into this mission like a fool. He was going to kill Sawada Iemitsu.

* * *

 **1- A Supreme Court case that allowed the government to control the public's goods with more power than before.**

 **2- I have never read a Nicholas Sparks novel, if you could not tell.**

 **A/N: So, that was the first chapter. I'm sorry if it's a bit boring in places, and if the characters are too OOC for your liking. This fic is simply a fun exercise for me, and I haven't really watched KHR in a very long time, so I'm a little rusty. No flames, please, but constructive criticism is always welcome!**


	2. Raging

Raging

Flower-Gathering

I left you in the morning,

And in the morning glow,

You walked a way beside me

To make me sad to go.

Do you know me in the gloaming,

Gaunt and dusty gray with roaming?

Are you dumb because you know me not,

Or dumb because you know?

All for me And not a question

For the faded flowers gay

That could take me from beside you

For the ages of a day?

They are yours, and be the measure

Of their worth for you to treasure,

The measure of the little while

That I've been long away.

- _Robert Frost_

X X X X

Despite Tsuna's previous thoughts, having a friend was not that bad. Gokudera was pretty alright, to be honest. He walked to school with her in the morning, and talked to her in between classes, and stayed for dinner most nights at her house. She made him bentos in the morning and when Tsuna was sent to the principal's office, Gokudera went with her. It was mutually beneficial, and the only uncomfortable part for her was his hero-worship. He cooled it when she asked, though.

Reborn now had her running around Namimori at five o'clock in the morning, however, so her life quality had decreased slightly. Even that wouldn't stop her, because she made a new running buddy, which was nice. He was the infamous boxer she had talked to earlier, Sasagawa-senpai.

"CALL ME RYOHEI!" he insisted. Of course, if it meant he yelled less, she would. So, that was where she was one morning: running beside a white-haired teenager, who was kind enough to slow down to match her speed. He rambled while she struggled to keep her breathing even.

"YOU SHOULD EXTREMELY JOIN THE BOXING CLUB, TSUNA-CHAN!" he yelled. It was a wonder that they hadn't gotten any complaints yet, for it was very early in the morning. Perhaps it was the fact that most people wanted to avoid Ryohei, if they could, and that nobody was actively trying to confront the loud boy.

"Shhhhhh, Ryohei-kun, it is the morning. I cannot." She said quietly, her eyes closing on their own. This exchange went on every morning the exact same way. Today, however, Ryohei chose to jog backwards in front of her, with her eyes closed, without her knowledge. This, of course, caused a problem when, at once, Tsuna opened her eyes, Ryohei tripped, and she grabbed his hand in an attempt to steady him. Unfortunately, she did not count on the fact that he was much, much heavier than her, which caused her body to fall with his.

In what seemed like slow motion, they both fell, Ryohei wrapped his arms around her waist in an effort to prevent injuries, and both their noses and lips smashed together in a cruel parody of the old cliche. Tsuna immediately bounced up, holding her bleeding nose, while Ryohei stayed down in a daze.

"Fuck that hurt!" Apparently, her exclamation caused Ryohei to snap out of it, for he snapped up too, their lips brushing briefly once again. His face turned red, unnoticed by Tsuna, who was preoccupied at the moment. "Owwww." She frowned.

"Extreme first kiss?!" Ryohei exclaimed, although he was not as loud as usual.

"Whaaaaat?" was her eloquent response; she really was a modern-day Mark Twain. "That thing? I guess," she eventually responded, her voice nasal. Regardless of how much she tried to keep her cool in such a situation, it was evident that her cheeks were tinged rose. Ryohei seemed to have noticed, that smug bastard, for he just grinned at her with his large hands resting firmly on her waist.

They stayed like that for a little while, and the scene would've been perfect had it not been for the blood on her hand and nose; blood that was now dripping from her nose to rest above her cupid's bow. Ryohei obviously didn't care, for he leaned in slowly and made to kiss her again. And he would've gotten away with it too, had it not been for the loudly yelled "TSUNA-CHAN!" from down the street.

Tsuna scrambled with little grace onto the sidewalk where Ryohei rested, disappointed, and they both turned to look at the jogging form of Yamamoto heading towards them. His apathetic grin still painted his face, but there seemed to be emotion in his eyes, though it did not seem that glad. She wasn't really sure; she was very bad at reading people.

As he got closer, however, his expression grew more concerned, his eyes tracing the dried blood on her form. Finally, it would seem as if the Yamamoto boy was not entirely a robot, as she had suspected. To be honest, he was a little annoying to be around, as Tsuna was not very fond of fake fronts, though she knew they were necessary at times.

"Tsuna-chan, what happened to your nose?" he asked, his displeasure genuine. Without waiting for an answer, he spoke once more. "Let me treat that at my house." As an afterthought, he added, "You can come too, Sasagawa-senpai."

The Yamamoto residence was very spacious and rustic, a design Tsuna could appreciate even if it wasn't her own style. Yamamoto sat them down in the living room, and left shortly to gather the medical supplies. When he returned, Ryohei had moved to sit closer to Tsuna, which he very much disapproved of.

"Tilt your head a little, Tsuna-chan," he asked quietly, his face rather close to Tsuna's. Out of the corner of his eye, he glanced smugly at Ryohei, who frowned minutely. There was no scratch, so bandages were not necessary, but Yamamoto insisted that he be the one to clean her injury. When he was done, there was little more than a purpling bruise to show for it. "Don't worry, you're still cute," Yamamoto reassured. Tsuna was unsure of why, because she hadn't really worried about that, but she still nodded along.

"Thanks for the help, Yamamoto," she said, before standing. "I'll take my leave. Come along now, Ryohei-kun," she prodded. He stood along with her, and took her hand unexpectedly. Then, he met eyes with Yamamoto and it was almost possible to see the angry sparks between the two of them.

"One more thing." Yamamoto smiled widely, though this one was actually filled with feeling. What feeling, Tsuna did not know. As aforementioned, Tsuna was not very good with people. "Call me Takeshi," he demanded pleasantly, never once looking away from Ryohei. "After all, aren't we friends?"

"Sure, Takeshi-kun. Whatever you say," Tsuna said blithely, choosing to remain unaware of the chaos around her. Her life had been crumbling apart since she was little, but she deemed it safe to just blame Ragnarok. She did not notice Ryohei's unusual frown, nor Yamamoto's challenging demeanor. Now that she thought about it, however, wasn't it strange that Ryohei had been quiet for so long?  
"EXTREME!"

Nevermind.

Ryohei continued his screaming while they jogged to her house. Then, when they reached the entrance of her house, he quickly rested his hand on her cheek, and bent down to kiss her. The ordeal lasted about fifteen seconds, but that was long enough for Reborn to snap a picture for future blackmail.

"You're _such an asshole_ , Reborn!" she exclaimed, while Ryohei screamed "EXTREME!" before waving and sprinting toward his house. Tsuna's face was red as she stared at his retreating back, and noticed, not for the first time, his back muscles and their movements. Goddamn, was that a _fine_ man.

"How did you get that bruise, Dame-Tsuna?" Reborn asked curiously. "I know that one isn't from me."

"The plot," was her answer, and she refused to elaborate upon it. Then, she locked the bathroom door, took a shower, and headed to school. As always, Reborn slinked behind her, sending aggressive comments her way whenever he felt like it. This morning, Gokudera sent her a text that he couldn't walk with her today, and that some issues had come up. Of course, the text was filled with apologies and cute emoticons that really fit his personality.

They met at school, however, where Gokudera's profuse apologies rang through the classroom. His words were interrupted by the unexpected arrival of Takeshi-kun, who seemed much more morose than he had this morning, when passion had filled his very bones.

"Hey, Tsuna-chan!" he greeted, his cheerfulness forced. Nevertheless, Tsuna smiled right back at him, which did not occur often. She felt, this time, that Takeshi-kun needed a little happiness. Tsuna would do anything she could to provide him with that.

"Morning, Takeshi-kun," she greeted. "By the way, Gokudera, this is Yamamoto Takeshi. Takeshi-kun, this is Gokudera Hayato. Mingle amongst yourselves, I have to finish this essay."

"T-Tenth! You call _this guy_ by his first name?" Gokudera screeched, incredulous. His eyes would've fit on a sad puppy's face. She nodded distractedly, her pencil scratching furiously on paper. "Why don't you call _me_ by my first name?" She looked up.

"You never asked, Hayato-kun." she amended herself, and then went back to her essay. As such, she missed Hayato's furious blush and Takeshi-kun's corresponding sharp look.

X X X X

School went on normally, but the next day Tsuna awoke with a bad feeling in her stomach. When she arrived, she swiftly walked by Hibari-senpai and avoided eye-contact, lest she be bitten to death. In homeroom, she heard the whisperings of Takeshi-kun's accident, and made a beeline for his desk, after telling Hayato to wait this one out.

"Takeshi-kun!" she exclaimed, once she broke through the crowd of sympathetic well-wishers. "Your arm!" was all she could manage to say, and she felt like a bumbling fool. Embarrassingly, she felt her eyes slightly water at the sight. He just looked so sad! Tsuna wasn't very good at empathy, or whatever, but she could understand her friends and their feelings, most of the time. Unfortunately, she wasn't exactly sure how to express that.

"Hi, Tsuna-chan," he said, his voice more morose than usual, even in front of the usual crowd. There were whispers around the classroom, curious as to when they became so familiar with each other and did Tsuna really just call him _Takeshi-kun_? Before they could speak for more than a few moments, Tsuna was pushed back into the crowd, her eyes still wide and tearing.

The day went on, and the sinking feeling in Tsuna's gut continued to worsen. By the time lunch came, she could barely stand without doubling over. As a result, she didn't really touch her food, and instead offered it to Hayato, who looked at her with concern present in his eyes.

"TAKESHI-KUN'S ON THE ROOF! HE'S GONNA JUMP!"

Before the kid finished, Tsuna was already out of her seat and sprinting, leaving Hayato behind. She could not remember reaching the roof, but when she became aware again, she was in the front of a crowd gathered before Takeshi-kun. She stepped forward, aware of many eyes on her, including Takeshi-kun's blank ones.

"Takeshi-kun?" she asked, and cursed her failure with words. She was not used to speaking, so she never really got the chance to develop a silver tongue. For the first time in years, she actually prayed to a real deity and hoped to gain strength. This was not a time for jokes.

"Hey, Tsunami," was all Takeshi-kun said, and when faced with her crying, pleading amber eyes, he felt the need to justify his actions. He gestured to his broken arm. "The Baseball Gods have forsaken me, and I am of no use to this world if I can't even play baseball. It's the one thing I'm good at, and without it I'm dame. I'm sure you know how that feels, with your past." At those words, the Tsuna's tears seemed to intensify, and Takeshi-kun noticed that she was one of those people whose face flushed when they cried.. Her scleras were bloodshot and a flood of water ran down her cheeks.

Tsuna went stiff at the mention of years prior, and almost recoiled at his harshness. She had never known him to act this way, but she realized that he had always been angry.

"I _do_ know how that feels, Takeshi-kun, but I would never do _this_! I'd never throw my life away! I've raged for years! I'm still raging! I'm angry all the time because of circumstances I can't change, but I'm always aware of the things I'm not angry at too. I know that my mother would be sad if I died, and I imagine your father would react even worse." Tsuna took a deep breath as she prepared to say her next line. "How would he feel if he had to deal with the death of his son, along with the death of his wife? How could he live without you?"

Takeshi-kun's eyes widened; he hadn't thought of that. How would Dad feel if he had to bury him in a plot next to Mom?

"Your arm will heal, Takeshi-kun, and everything will eventually get better." Tsuna's voice held finality that she didn't really possess. On the inside, she was a nervous wreck. How was she, a sweaty middle school student, supposed to talk down the school idol from suicide? She had only ever talked to him a few times! "Everything will get better," she whispered, and held out a hand for him. The people around them were completely silent, and the atmosphere was heavy with apprehension and fear. Thankfully, Takeshi-kun took it, and laced his fingers with hers.

Sadly, the fence did not hold up as they thought it would, and they both were sent free falling toward the hard cement below. Tsuna scraped her hand across the wall of the building, trying desperately to get a grip, only for her nails to break and her hand to be rendered a bloody mess. Suddenly, Takeshi-kun wrapped himself around her and turned, only for a bullet to pierce his brain. Tsuna screamed.

Takeshi-kun's eyes opened, but a bright blue had overtaken their usual brown. "SAVE TSUNA-CHAN WITH MY DYING WILL!" Damn, nobody was expecting that one. His clothes burned off, and a blue aura surrounded him. His naked limbs tightened around her, and when they landed, he stood on his feet. A shallow crater surrounded them, and Tsuna was sure his bare feet would be bruised. He held her like a bride as his eyes returned to normal. The only sign of the event occurring was the slight slumping of his shoulders and confusion in his irises.

"Whoa, what happened?" was his response, and Tsuna felt the urge to palm her own face. At that moment, Reborn appeared from the bushes, an annoyed but pleased look in his eyes.

"Nobody has ever been able to tell where my shots come from, much less intercept them," he said, looking pleased. "You've found a good family member, Dame-Tsuna." With that, he smacked the back of her head, and disappeared. Of course, this left her (and Hayato, once he arrived) to explain flames to Takeshi-kun, and find him clothes. He ended up wearing some of Hayato's spares, which made the fangirls squeal. Admittedly, Tsuna could see the appeal of a punk Takeshi-kun, but his demeanor did not fit his appearance. In fact, he seemed even more cheerful than usual, and he was actually genuine now.

The next day, he showed up in the morning with Hayato, and she, them, and Reborn all walked to the gates, where she continued to ignore Hibari-senpai out of fear of being bitten to death. In passing, he mentioned taking up swordsmanship with his father, so he could "protect you better, with my life," were his exact words, she believed.

Despite her initial uncertainty, she was not unhappy with the presence of another friend in her life, and while she was certainly not inviting new people into her life, she supposed she wouldn't deny them either.

And if she slipped Takeshi-kun a note, and he arrived at her house later to talk more about the incident in the comfort of her room, then she wasn't going to say anything about it. For now, she would only smile when Mama commented on the handsome boy sitting with her on her bed.

Now, Tsuna had two bodyguards that followed her everywhere. She could barely go anywhere alone. Usually, she would have to think of weird excuses to get them to leave.

"I'm going in that store to buy BL manga. If you don't leave before me, I will ask your opinions on each one," worked well this time, but she would have to think of another excuse soon. She entered the store, and waited until their quickly retreating forms disappeared from the horizon to continue her trek.

She placed headphones on her head, and scrolled through her music to find a relaxing song to listen to on the way home. In truth, Tsuna sometimes preferred to be alone, like when she was still Dame-Tsuna. She didn't often crave being alone, but she seldom was. Reborn, Hayato, Ryohei, or Takeshi were at every corner, and she needed a break every so often.

Her steps were slow and even, as she let her form sway naturally with the movement. The sunshine peaked through the trees leaves and her curtain of hair, making it shine blonde instead of its usual honey hue. From the corner of her eye, she saw the movement of a pink-haired bicyclist throwing a can of soda at her. She caught it hastily, and the woman rushed off.

With caution, she open it and poured a bit out. Reborn taught her never to trust a stranger's suspicious liquids, and he was proved right when a strange purple vapor rose from the ground.

"That's fucked up," she said, before tossing the rest in the garbage.

She arrived home, and grinned at her two best friends who made it there before her. It had become a tradition for them to stay after school with her for a couple hours, with Takeshi-kun usually leaving before dinner.

Strangely, however, a pizza delivery woman arrived at their door as her mother prepared dinner in the kitchen. Tsuna felt that this was kinda suspicious, until she started professing her love for Reborn, when it became hella suspicious.

"Reborn, there's some crazy lady at the door for you!" she called to upstairs, dodging the pizza thrown at her face. "Y'know, cuz someone _has_ to be crazy to like a psychopath like you! Ha, what a zinger!" Then, she left Reborn to deal with that mess, before chilling in the living room with her two besties.

That is, before the crazy woman stepped into the room, said something about killing her, and Hayato fainted.

"Who the fuck _are_ you?" she asked, and poisonous food was thrown at her in response. She dodged, of course, but it just kept coming. "Hey, can you watch it? These are my mama's walls." That caused the woman to pause for a moment, before the havoc continued.

When all was settled, the woman was introduced as Bianchi, Reborn's lover and Hayato's sister.

"Damn, Reborn, she's hot," was all she could say, before dragging Takeshi and Hayoto's limp body up to her room, away from all the crazies.

X X X X

Tsuna was never very good with kids, so when one jumped through her window, attempted to assassinate Reborn, and failed to do so, she had no idea what to do. Then, it started screaming, and of course, Hayato, who was also there, had to start screaming at it.

"T-tol-er-ate!" it cried, before pulling out a bazooka and tripping, causing it to shoot right at her.

"What. The. Fuck." She sat at the top of a long table, where dangerous, sometimes recognizable, men sat to the right and left of her. "Who the fuck-?" she struggled. "Eh, whatever." She spinned in her wheely chair, before turning to face the shell-shocked group. Huh, was that her usual group in the ranks? "What's happening here?"

"Kufufu...the boss is tiny," a creeper, who seemed to be the only one to recover, said, slithering out of his chair to stand behind her. It was sort of uncomfortable and mildly threatening, but Tsuna was willing to let it go. "Her hair is still long," he hummed, before caressing a golden brown lock. "And she doesn't have as many freckles," he touched her nose briefly before leaning in. "Cute," he breathed. Damn, this guy was creepy. Tsuna was kinda into it though, she admitted.

"Sorry, boo. I'm more into the caveman type, although I can appreciate a nice slim man," she turned and winked to the familiar man to the right. "You know I'm talking to you, Hibari. Ha!" And then she was returned to the present (1).

"Damn, didn't even get to see that delicious blush of his," she said, before noticing the mildly surprised face of Reborn, the blushing face of Hayato, and that crazy child who _was still crying_. "Reborn, Hayato-kun, out," she ordered, with strict eyes belying her nervousness. Reborn smirked, and left with his hand dragging Hayato behind him.

"Alright, kid, I've never actually done this before, so cut me some slack." She gently picked the brat up, and settled him in her lap. Her hand carded through his knotted hair, as she started humming softly.

" _You gotta hold on, hold on through the night_

 _Hang on, things will be alright~"_ (2)

Eventually, the kid stopped crying, and his noisiness subsided into a few sniffs here and there. She stood up, her face red in embarrassment, and opened her bedroom door. Of course, Hayato and Takeshi-kun (who knows when he got there) came tumbling down into the room, obviously having eavesdropped. Reborn stood calmly behind them, obviously better at eavesdropping than two middle schoolers. She ignored them, and stepped into the kitchen.

"Mama, I got you a kid. Don't worry, it's not mine." And she smiled along with her mother's gushing comments about the kid, who she learned was named Lambo.

X X X X

It was an unusual morning in that neither Hayato nor Takeshi-kun were there to escort her to school. Instead, she was alone once again with Reborn. She was cautious, however, because on these such days, it seemed as if the most unusual events would occur. She was quiet today, for just a few hours before, Ryohei had proceeded to kiss her again, and she _might have_ responded in kind. Kissing was fun, alright? It wasn't like she was actively jumping into bed with him.

Currently, Reborn was walking slightly behind her, and every once in awhile, he would flick the back of her head if he thought she was getting too distracted.

"H-hey!" A voice interrupted the morning routine, shaking in indignancy. "I've got a bone to pick with you!" Tsuna's first thought was ' _What a fucking nerd,'_ while her second was ' _Holy shit is a ghost talking to me?'_ because as far as she could see, there was no speaker around. "Up here!" was screamed in frustration, and Tsuna finally looked up to find a young girl balancing on top of the brick wall next to her. Thinking back, Tsuna remembered seeing her before, on her walk home or to school. Huh, small world.

"I'm very against your cheating ways!" she exclaimed dramatically, pointing a judging finger at her. Tsuna just tilted her head in question, honestly ignorant as to what she was talking about. Unfortunately, this just seemed to make the girl angrier. "I've seen you around the neighborhood with all your boys! This one!" She pointed to Reborn. "That tall one! The loud one! The _delinquent_!" At that word, she seemed especially offended.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Tsuna said, her hands held up in a gesture of peace. "I'm not cheating on anyone! And besides, the only person I've ever kissed is Ryohei-kun, and that was only, like, four times, at most." She thought for a moment. "Actually, maybe five times. I don't know. What I'm trying to say is, I'm not guilty of anything." She was silent for a moment, before another thing occurred to her. "And besides, what does it matter to you!? You don't know my situation. What if I was in an open relationship with all of them? What if I dabbled in a bit of polyamory? What if I was just really over affectionate with my friends? You can't accuse me of anything!"

Without any warning, the girl's face turned red, she stomped over, and lifted her hand. Tsuna didn't even try to react, and thought it better to just let this priss get her emotion out. Unfortunately, Tsuna also underestimated the force that this girl could slap with. Fuck, that hurt!

"Slut!" she screamed, before running away. Tsuna grinned, rubbing her sore cheek, while Reborn put a steadying hand on her shoulder.

"That's a new one!"

"That's not how you're supposed to respond, Dame-Tsuna," Reborn responded approvingly, before continuing on his way, his firm grip steering her toward their destination.

 _Meet me on the bridge, you know the one._ Reborn had texted her, and she did not know the bridge he was talking about. Fortunately, Takeshi-kun _did_ know, and the three of them walked there after school, after she notified her mother, of course.

When they arrived, Tsuna was met with the sight of that weird girl from this morning, dressed very strangely. Apparently, she was angry enough to wish for a fight.

"Yo, angry girl!" Tsuna said in recognition. The girl seemed angry at that, and said something that sounded like "Hahi!" but Tsuna wasn't really paying attention. She did know, however, that it ended with the girl falling off the bridge and into the water.

"Fuckity fuck," she said, while pulling off her shoes and jacket. The others didn't get a chance to stop her before she was diving in after the chick. It was a good thing she learned how to swim a couple of months ago, after she regained her warmth. It was a bad thing that she was terrible at swimming.

She swam with the current, and let it carry her to the flailing girl. That was the easy part; now she had to get to shore, carrying the girl and her fucking fifty pounds of equipment.

"Shit," she cursed, as she dragged the fighting girl with her, against the current. This was hard and she was not into it. Reborn's Spartan training was helpful for something, she supposed, because she was sure that she would've drowned right now if not for him. Honestly, she probably wouldn't even _be here_ if it wasn't for Reborn, but that wasn't the point.

This girl was more trouble than she was worth, but Tsuna wasn't gonna let her die. Mama didn't raise her like that, and if she died upholding her mother's lessons, then she'd have no regrets. Perhaps that was why Reborn hadn't shot her yet, but she wasn't sure. Maybe he'd just been waiting for her to die in a way he couldn't be blamed for.

Water was rushing into her eyes, mouth, ears, and nose, but she continued until the ground grew to meet her. The river became shallow, and she dragged the other with her, too tired to avoid the rocks in the riverbed. Both of their faces were a little cut up, and it looked like the other was half-drowned. She groaned, leaned down, and performed CPR, which she had learned in health class this year.

The girl sputtered, and Tsuna backed away in time to see a waterlogged Reborn come out of the water after them. Huh, so he really did care. She waved him over.

"Your boys are on their way," he said, replacing his fedora on his head. She nodded in thanks, before turning her sights to the unnamed girl before her. She sputtered and coughed, but overall she seemed fine. When the girl finally opened her eyes, they were no longer filled with judgmental hate, and seemed to be filled with an emotion Tsuna couldn't decipher.

"I'm Miura Haru!" she said, rising to sit on her knees. A bright look rested on her face, and she, overall, looked far more happy to be around Tsuna than she had previously. Tsuna thought it was kinda...cute.

"You're cute," she said, as she always said her thoughts aloud. This habit didn't come in handy with Reborn, but it certainly made Haru blush. "It's nice to meet you, Miura-san. I'm Sawada Tsunami; please call me Tsuna." Suddenly, she was tackled into a forceful hug.

"Thank you for saving me, Tsuna-chan! Please call me Haru!" Haru said, with her voice coming out muffled since her head was buried in Tsuna's shoulder. This was the sight Hayato and Takeshi-kun came upon. The former scoffed and looked away while the latter didn't bother to hide his wide grin. Tsuna finally made a girlfriend!

X X X X

Omake 1: Future Tsuna and Co. Shenanigans

Tsuna was not entirely expecting being transported into the past, but she took it in stride. These people wouldn't know what hit them. Her hair was shorter, her confidence was boosted, and she felt pretty damn sexy. So, when she arrived in front of Reborn, Hayato, and Lambo, she acted accordingly.

"What the fuck?" she sputtered as smoke cleared out of the room. Obviously, the epitome of wisdom and grace. Nice job, Tsuna.

"She obviously hasn't changed in ten years," Reborn said, though he did seem a little disconcerted at her appearance. It wasn't every day you got to see another version of someone you knew intimately, with very apparent differences in their behavior, after all.

"T-Tenth?" Hayato stuttered, his face alight with a bright blush. Oh, what a cutie.

"Ooooooh, I had forgotten how cute you all were! It's Reborn-chan, Hayato-chan, and Lambo-chan!" she squealed, and a second bullet subsequently pierced her most valued poster. She still had it, ten years later.

"NOOOOOO! PATRICK SWAYZE!" Of course, the gods chose that moment to return her to her own reality, so all her important business partners got to see her scream in grief. Her guardians just snickered, and Hibari had a strange blush on his face.

"Ha! My past self got you, didn't she Kyoya-chan?"

"I will bite you to death."

X X X X

Omake 2: Sad and Sadder with Tsunami and Takeshi

"Takeshi," Tsuna said, her eyes tired and sad. They both sat on her fish-printed comforter, a rare gift from her father. She didn't actually like fish that much.

"I thought I was alone," Takeshi sighed, his face uncharacteristically solemn. "I had a lot of friends at school, I guess, but we were never really close. The baseball team only relied on my skills, and never got to know me. I thought the only reason I mattered to others was baseball, and when I shattered my arm...That certainly wasn't the only reason, but I felt it signified my whole situation. I was useless, so there was no point in me living anymore.

"Of course, I know I was wrong now. I have Dad, and I most certainly have you. Without you, I'd be dead."

* * *

 **1- I am skipping the Future Arc bc I hate it. That's all.**

 **2-** _ **Hang on Little Tomato**_ **by Pink Martini. I have no ownership of that song.**

 **A/N: Alrighty, folks. That was the second chapter. It's a bit more gloomy than the first one, but given the subject matter, I'm sure it's understandable. I apologize if I made Haru seem a bit too mean, but since I also made Reborn an adult for no reason, I couldn't have the argument be about that. It also seemed to me that Haru was a person to jump to conclusions quickly, and stick by them even if they're wrong. I'm also hopeful that her character was suitably redeemed by the end.**


	3. To Burn

To Burn

You Cannot Put a Fire Out

You cannot put a Fire out—

A Thing that can ignite

Can go, itself, without a Fan—

Upon the slowest Night—

You cannot fold a Flood—

And put it in a Drawer—

Because the Winds would find it out—

And tell your Cedar Floor—

 _-Emily Dickinson_

X X X X

Your demonic tutor will put you through hell.

You might be forced to run around naked in front of the opposite sex.

People are always trying to kill you. Always.

Those were the three main rules Tsuna had compiled. In fact, the third one had just occurred yesterday, when a strange toddler had almost blown her up. Of course, that kid was now living at her house with Lambo, and her name was I-pin. Damn her and her inability to ignore children! Why couldn't she be more like Kurokawa-san, who hated children no matter what? She pouted.

"TSUNA-CHAN, WHAT MADE YOU SAD?!" came from her left, and Tsuna turned. She had been invited to walk home with Ryohei when both Takeshi-kun, who had baseball practice now, and Hayato, who was sick today, could not escort her. Ryohei had jumped at the chance, and now she was walking home with him, Sasagawa-chan, and Kurokawa-san. She had also been invited to stay an hour or two at his residence, and had sent a quick text to her mom to inform her.

"Ryohei-kun, I'm not sad!" She waved her hands in an attempt to placate him. He did seem rather bummed out at her gloomy face. "That's just my thinking face!" she said, with a proud look at how good her excuse was. Behind him, she could see Kurokawa-san snickering, and glared darkly at her. Unfortunately, this just caused her to fully laugh.

"Nii-san and Tsuna-chan make such a good couple!" Sasagawa-chan squealed, and both Ryohei and Tsuna sprouted an invisible question mark from their heads. They turned to each other, and mouthed confusedly 'couple?' before turning to face the other pair.

"KYOKO-CHAN, as much as I EXTREMELY like Tsuna-chan and wish to date her, were not EXTREMELY dating yet!" Tsuna nodded in agreement with his words.

"Yep, we pretty much just mess around right now. In order for us to be dating, we'd have to go on a few dates, and then Ryohei-kun would have to ask me to be his girlfriend." Ryohei nodded along with her, and the two girls in front of them sweatdropped.

"Man, those idiots really are meant for each other." Kurokawa said, and Sasagawa-chan smiled slightly. "Come on, Kyoko-chan, let's get to your house. It's chilly out here." The two began to leave, and Tsuna and Ryohei rushed to catch up to them.

When they arrived at the house, it became apparent that Ryohei's parents were not home, and were, in fact, still at work. The three of them settled in front of the television, while Sasagawa-chan fiddled with the DVR. Apparently, they would be watching a new horror film that she had wanted to see. Tsuna was nervous, for she _did not fucking like scary movies_ , but she couldn't behave like a coward now.

The entire plot was ridiculous, but it was really scary. Every time a monster would jump out, she would flinch and cower into Ryohei. Not that he minded, that dick. Eventually, he just wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close, in an effort to calm her and be grossly cliche at the same time. Eventually, it reached its resolution, where the monster came back for its final scare. She squeaked, and nestled into Ryohei further. Fucking cliches. Fucking Ryohei. Fucking monsters.

Of course, the girls were laughing their heads of the entire time. Damn them and their courage. Fucking fuck. She glared at them from her place in Ryohei's shoulder, and growled internally. She was acting like a nerd, dammit! ...But she hated monsters. They were really scary and this was not a fun exercise.

"Fuck you guys," she scowled, although she made sure to keep her tone suitably playful. Sasagawa-chan squealed, and Ryohei wrapped his arms around her. Kurokawa pretended to barf, and Tsuna felt she would've done the same if faced with such a sight. Ryohei was woefully affectionate, and didn't care where he was when he showed it. "I wasn't even scared," she grumbled, and this time, all of the others snickered.

Just then, her phone buzzed. _Come home now or I'll murder you._ Reborn had texted her. What a sweetheart.

"Gotta go guys, or I'll be brutally murdered." she said.

"I'll EXTREMELY walk you home, Tsuna-chan! LADIES SHOULDN'T WALK ALONE!" he screamed passionately, before taking her hand and rushing her out the door. She waved to the two other girls while being pulled out, and hastily adjusted a jacket on her shoulders. Once they were out of the house, Ryohei pulled her close and kissed her hard, which was very unexpected for Tsuna. Her eyes widened as she made out with the boy in public, which had never happened before, and neither pulled away until Tsuna was literally going to die from suffocation.

"Um, damn, I guess." Then, she grabbed his hand with red cheeks, and walked home to the sounds of Ryohei's loud speeches. When they arrived, she was greeted with the sight of many armed men crowding her residence, and she patted Ryohei's arms to quiet his unease.

"I'll see you later, Ryohei-kun. You should head home now," she ordered in a tone that held no room for disobedience. After what seemed like some internal conflict, he left, looking back once in awhile with hurt, puppy dog eyes. Tsuna almost wavered at the look on his face, but stood her ground. Then, she walked up to the guards.

"Yo, I'm Sawada Tsunami." She flashed her school ID at one without letting anyone speak. "Let me in," she ordered, and proceeding to enter her own home. "What the fuck, Reborn." The man stood near the entrance, with a blonde foreigner in tow. She gave the other a quick once-over before returning to her main target. "Who's the kid?" she asked, gesturing to the man beside him. The other looked slightly offended, but she paid him no mind.

"The _kid_ , who is years older than you, is my former pupil, and the tenth boss of the Cavallone Family. Please do not anger him further," Reborn stated calmly, while swatting the back of her head. Well, shit, did she just unintentionally insult a mafia boss? Nice. Reborn was always telling her not to, but it felt sorta awesome. Besides, the guy didn't come here with the intentions to hurt her; Tsuna could sense that, at least.

"Hi! I'm Cavallone Dino, your new big bro!" The exuberance of this kid was mildly off-putting, and Tsuna wasn't _really_ up for that right now. And that big bro thing? Unacceptable. But, she was acting like a good little girl so she didn't get punished by Reborn later, so fuck it.

"Hi, Nii-san," She poured sugar into her voice. "I'm Sawada Tsunami! Nice to meet you!" Out of the corner of her eye, she glared at a surprised-looking Reborn. This was sort of fun, though. Dino seemed pretty endeared, and he seemed to have forgotten her swearing moments prior. He was kinda an idiot. "So why are you here?" her voice dropped to its normal octave, and Reborn seemed relieved. Dino, poor boy, looked really confused, and she pitied him.

Reborn explained his mission, and shoved the two of them into a restaurant where they were the only two patrons. If she didn't know better, she'd assume he was trying to get them to date. She ate her pasta with chopsticks, while Dino struggled clumsily with his requested fork and spoon. She had observed, without his men, that Dino was a real klutz.

"So, ah, what do you do in your free time?" he asked, after the silence had become too long for him to handle. At first, she stared at him blankly, before answering.

"Usually, I am occupied by Reborn's antics, including this event. When I'm not doing that, I hang out with the three, at most four, friends I have managed to acquire in the fourteen years of my life." Her voice was toneless, and Dino wiped nervous sweat from his forehead. Man, this girl was not making it easy for him.

"Cool. I have a turtle." What a ridiculous thing to say, Dino. What are you trying to do, come off as some weird serial killer? In shame, he continued on his awkward, pain-filled path, and pulled Enzo from his pocket. The freaked-out look on the girl's face was replaced with a significantly better, slightly awed one.

"Can I hold him?" she asked, her voice quiet in reverence. Now it was Dino's turn to freak out. What was up with this girl and turtles? Regardless, he passed Enzo gently to her, and she held him lightly in return. With a slim finger, she patted the top of of his head, and Dino was momentarily struck with how pretty Tsuna was when she wasn't scowling.

By the end of their "date", both had stood and Dino attempted to take her hand in a professional handshake. She said "attempted" because as soon as their skin touched, he topped over and landed on top of her in a very provocative position. Damn, that old "trip on to another person and land in a romantic pose" trick got her every time. On this occasion, fortunately, there was only a tiny brush of the lips and no noses knocked together, so Tsuna counted it as a win.

Dino's panicked face hovered above hers, scarlet and wide-eyed. She simply raised an eyebrow. They both knew it was an accident, so it wasn't like she was gonna yell at him or anything. Jeez, was she really that scary?

"You okay?" she asked after he seemed out of it for too long. Had his brain exploded or something? What was the deal? Suddenly, a gunshot rang out, and Tsuna turned to greet the newcomers in the room. "Hey Reborn, Hayato-kun, Takeshi-kun. How's it hangin?" All of them seemed angry for some reason, and she wondered if they knew that this entire situation was an accident. Besides, why were they angry if she felt fine about it?

"Have you two met my friend Dino here? He's a real sweetheart when he's not in shock." She gestured to the frozen man above her, who had not even blinked since falling on her. Suddenly, without warning or apparent reason, he scrambled off of her in such a rush that he fell on the floor next to her. "You know, I reacted that same way during my first accidental kiss accident." She patted the man's shoulder comfortingly.

"YOU KISSED SOMEONE?" was screamed at her by Takeshi and Hayato. Reborn knew, of course, since he had taken a picture of her and Ryohei.

Needless to say, the rest of Dino's visit was a mess, from kidnapping to the boys' hateful glares. After that incident, he also had a hard time looking her in the eye. What a crazy dude.

X X X X

"I'm so embarrassed! My first kiss almost resulted in breaking my nose!" shrieked the skull tattooed on her flesh. Man, this was the closest to embarrassed Tsuna had been in a long time, with a tattoo shouting her most terrible secrets in front of the school prefect.

First, let's tell how Tsuna ended up in this situation. She was walking into school, right beside her two best friends like normal, when she accidentally made eye contact with Hibari. She had been trying to avoid doing that, because he immediately took it as an invitation to start something. So, as she was running around school being chased by a demon, Reborn shot her with a Dying Will bullet. In a very crowded area. Then, before she was completely naked, Hibari grabbed her and carried her into a supplies closet. The last few events occurred in the span of one second.

So now, she was trapped in a confined space with a very strange, mean human, with skulls appearing on her naked skin, and her secrets being told all willy-nilly.

"Fuck my life, man," she sighed, before leaning against the wall.

"I'm so embarrassed! I didn't know how to swim before fourteen!"

"Yesterday, the only food I ate was cosmic brownies and carrot sticks!"

"I'm secretly a nerd who loves classic literature!"

"Hey! That's where I draw the line!" she shouted. No one could know that one! "We're gonna do something about this Hibari." She grabbed the silent prefect's hand, and tried to stride out into the hallway. Before she could, a strong grip stopped her.

"I will not allow public nudity, omnivore," the prefect grumbled, before draping his coat over her in a move that induced a vague sense of deja vu. Tsuna was almost certain this had happened before. "Move."

"I need to find Reborn," she explained, her hand still clutching Hibari's. "Usually, I stand in a dark bathroom and say his name three times. Then, he will appear in the mirror," she said, very seriously. Suddenly, she was pistol-whipped.

"I don't know why I put up with you, Dame-Tsuna," came the cold voice of Reborn. Unconsciously, Tsuna flinched. As much as she liked to pretend to be unaffected, Reborn was hella scary. "You appear to have been shot with the Dying Will bullet ten times, which I've heard results in something terrible. Now, you have Skullitis, and will die in two hours."

"Well, damn. It's been a good run, boys, I guess," she patted Hibari's shoulder, and slipped her hand out of his limp one. "I'm gonna skip school today, if that's cool with you. Wouldn't want a dead body in the hallways."

"I'm so embarrassed! My most treasured object is a Patrick Swayze poster!"

"That's not even embarrassing, skull. Up your game, jeez," she grumbled, before exiting. Or, trying to exit, before two hands caught her wrists. She looked back to find both males clutching her. Both looked more angry than usual, which was impressive, because usually she got the feeling that they both were constantly enraged.

"There's a cure, Dame-Tsuna," Reborn spoke, his words heavy and dark. "And that Patrick Swayze thing is pretty damn embarrassing, honestly." Then, Reborn took the lead in dragging her to some unknown destination, with Hibari still attached to her in a fence of linked people. To the outside observer, it would look quite amusing. Of course, no one would laugh because both Hibari and Reborn were in the human chain.

' _I do not feel safe around this boy,'_ was the only thought in Tsuna's mind, as she worried about being bitten to death. For the rest of the trek, however, Tsuna was surprised that the boy didn't fight at all, and didn't seem averse to being dragged around town after leaving school. Who will bite the delinquents to death? The world had become very strange indeed.

"I keep buying manga to put on my shelf even though I never read them in an effort to maintain my self-created image!"

"The most I've ever done is kissed a boy! I'm going to die a virgin!"

"I let my fear of being rejected keep me from making friends for years!"

"I swear a lot to hide my true feelings from others!"

"Damn, some of these are getting pretty heavy," Tsuna said, as Reborn looked at her with analytical eyes. ' _Keep looking, Reborn, I'm not gonna tell you a thing.'_

"I can sympathize with Takeshi-kun because I also contemplated committing-!"

She covered the damn thing's mouth before it could utter another word, but that didn't stop Reborn and Hibari's vaguely concerned looks. "Whatever," she muttered, keeping her eyes to the ground below. Reborn suddenly started walking faster as if he had spotted his goal, and Tsuna looked up briefly to see a tanned man badly flirting with a clearly uncomfortable woman.

"I have a deep fear of bugs because I watched a _Spongebob_ episode and a butterfly scared me!"

"Finally, a light-hearted one," she sighed, but neither of her companions responded. Instead, she was ambushed by the tan man, who pulled her from the males' iron grips to rest his hand on the small of her back.

"What an exotic beauty! Half-Japanese, half-Italian!" he exclaimed before kissing her hand. Tsuna was briefly creeped out about his immediate knowledge of her heritage, but those thoughts were soon brushed away when he noticed the skulls on her palms.

"Reborn, is this why you brought me to her?" the man asked.

"Yes. Dame-Tsuna, this is Trident Shamal, a well-known doctor." He leaned in and whispered. "He's also a skilled assassin, so I wouldn't piss him off." Tsuna pouted briefly, before shrugging her shoulders. "Shamal, this is Sawada Tsunami, my student." Shamal's eyes widened slightly. This girl was going to be the Vongola Tenth?

"So, can you cure me?" she asked straightforwardly; she only had about an hour and a half to live, after all. Shamal grinned suspiciously, his form still uncomfortably close to hers.

"Of course, for a price," he said, which worried her. As a middle school student without a job, Tsuna didn't actually have more than a thousand yen and a piece of gum in her pocket at all times. "This time, I'd like a kiss in exchange for my services." He winked suggestively.

"Well, I try not to kiss random strangers on the street, but fine. After you cure me, I'll kiss you." There was a little bit of angry growling behind her, but she blamed it on Hibari's usual irritability. They _were_ in a mildly crowded place.

Shamal pulled a mosquito from his pocket, and she tried her best not to flinch at the sight. Tsuna didn't like any bugs, not at all. But she trusted Reborn and she didn't really want to die _that_ much, so she let it bite her. The skulls faded accordingly, with one last:

"I once bit into a soap bar because I thought it was chocolate!"

Well, that was embarrassing.

"So, the kiss. You do know that I'm underage, right?" she asked, to be certain. Shamal nodded, and over eager look in his eye, and the growling in the background got louder. She stood on her tiptoes, and the man closed his eyes expectantly. She brushed her lips softly against his cheek, and was immediately pulled back into the chest of Hibari, whose growling had reached new carnivorous levels never before seen.

"For disrupting the peace of Namimori, I will bite you to death." All Reborn did was nod approvingly as Hibari went after Shamal in fury. By the time the prefect was done, no one noticed the mosquito that flew onto his neck and bit him. The only sign of anything being amiss was the roughened Shamal smirking slightly.

"Hibari-senpai, what are you doing?" she asked, as he grabbed her collar and began dragging her back through where they came.

"I do not tolerate skipping class, omnivore. You will be spending the rest of the day in my office to serve In-School Suspension." Tsuna was pretty certain that In-School Suspension wasn't actually given at their school, since Hibari beat all the troublemakers up, but she wasn't about to comment that to a demon. No, she valued her body too much, and it was not a priority of hers to walk around aching from bruises.

"Soooooo, what am I supposed to do here?" she asked, after having sit across from Hibari for thirty silent minutes, engaged in a fierce staring contest. She lost multiple times, but it wasn't her fault she had dry eyes that require regular blinking!

"You kissed that man. Why." That was the only response Tsuna got, and she was beginning to suspect that Hibari was actually a UMA, as Hayato liked to say, because he certainly had no idea how to communicate normally.

"Ummm, because if I didn't, I'd probably be close to dead right now? I don't know. He seemed clean enough, so I didn't think I was gonna catch anything from it. Mostly, it just seemed to have more pros than cons, you know?" Tsuna rambled nervously. Hibari's blank stare didn't change throughout her speaking, so she was sorta feeling wrecked right now.

"So kissing means nothing to you, then." Hibari said monotonously, his face as blank as ever. In fact, Tsuna had only ever seen him show emotion in fights or events leading up to a fight. She was sure his only emotion was bloodlust.

"I don't think that's entirely true. Kissing is special, and is meant to be shared between people who feel passionately about it. But, if it's between kissing a stranger on the cheek and dying, I think I'd prefer the former, wouldn't you?" Obviously, Hibari had stopped listening a while ago, and in her anxiety, Tsuna didn't notice the prefect leave his chair to stand in front of hers, his form bent in such a way that his face was parallel to hers. Tsuna squeaked, not expecting him to be so close, and her grip tightened slightly on the arms of the chair.

"Heeeeey?" she said weakly, before Hibari firmly pressed his lips to hers. She was certainly not expecting that. Was she even allowed to do this? Wasn't she already kissing someone else? Did this mean that she was kiss-cheating? Although, Ryohei did say that their relationship was undefined. As her wide amber eyes stared directly into Hibari's own, she suddenly felt very overwhelmed by this situation. Since when did Hibari even like her? Finally, after a full minute of strangely strict lip-locking and intense eye contact, Hibari pulled away.

"Whaaaaat?" was the only response she could correctly formulate. Her face was tinted a dark pink, while her ears flushed red. Hibari smirked, obviously proud of himself, and returned to his desk to file paperwork.

"You are dismissed," was all he said afterward, and, on autopilot, Tsuna exited the room.

"What the fuck just happened?"

X X X X

"Please, don't shoot me with a Dying Will Bullet ever again," Tsuna pleaded, collapsed on the couch after being forced to run twenty miles without stopping. As such, she did not have the time to bring up the subject hitherto. After the emotional stress of that day, she would rather not have a repeat of Skullitis or all that it entailed.

"That's not exactly how things like this work, Dame-Tsuna," Reborn said, sitting comfortably on the arm chair across from her, reading a newspaper and drinking espresso even if it was eight o'clock in the evening.

"Don't care. Don't want it," she said shortly, and had a pillow thrown at her as a result. "Owww," she whined.

"You're such a wimp," Reborn sighed. "But alright. Since your flames aren't sealed anymore, that I know of, you can train your sky flame." Reborn looked her in the eye, his face stony and expression guarded. "This is a long, difficult, _boring_ process, and you need to be prepared for that."

"What exactly does this entail, Reborn?" Tsuna asked, a light sweat of nervousness appearing on her forehead. "Can I _die_?"

"I'm sure _you_ would manage to find a way, but it's basically a long meditation session, where you try to access your flames the entire time. It doesn't sound particularly difficult in words, but after having your flames locked away for so long, it will be harder for you to get in touch with them than it would be for normal people." In fact, Tsuna had never told Reborn about her warmth's seal and return, but he seemed to have figured it out on his own. How he did it, Tsuna would never know.

"Oh! I used to do that everyday, when I was still…" Tsuna's brow furrowed as she tried to find a word to describe her former state. "Cold," she settled on, and Reborn's face took on the barest hint of concern. Little did she know, but Tsuna's face deadened whenever she talked about her days as Dame-Tsuna.

X X X X

Tsuna had been on her floor every day for little more than two months. By now, Reborn had said, most had already accessed their flames, and were currently training them more. Recently, she had not been able to spend as much time with Takeshi and Hayato as she liked, and she barely hung out with Ryohei outside of their morning jogs. Instead, she spent hours everyday focusing on the warmth within her soul.

It felt very orange, if that made sense, and warm in the way of sunsets and heated apple cider. After years of being stuck outside in the cold winter, to finally bathe in the heat gave her a sense of completeness that she would never get tired of. It was for that reason that she never complained once about the added workload. It didn't matter if she barely had time to do her homework, and that she only slept, at most, five hours a night. No, she was simply thankful that she was not trapped in the shell of her own body anymore.

One day, at three o'clock in the morning, she sat awake on the cold hardwood floor of her room. The temperature didn't bother her, however, because she had allowed her blood to be replaced by lava. Slowly, in the back of her mind, she realized that her room was heating up with the temperature of her body. Beads of sweat rolled off her skin, and with one great exertion of will, she _pulled_.

And then, all she knew was the fire.

The sweet hum of resolution filled the room, harmonizing with the steady breaths she let out evenly. She opened her eyes slowly, and caught sight of herself in a nearby mirror. She was drenched in perspiration, and it dripped down her chin in a slow beat. Her long curly hair stuck up in odd ways from the unexpected humidity, and it seemed to have gained an oddly golden sheen. Most noticeably, her amber eyes transformed into a shade of molten lava, and a halo of of flames the color of California poppies circled her being. It consumed her forehead, circled her wrists like bracelets, and danced on each of her fingertips.

It was strange to her that she was mostly aware of her surroundings. After being shot with the Dying Will bullet, she had little idea of the events that transpired afterward. Now, however, she was _there_ , there just seemed to be more of her. Like her soul had combined with another, and her resolve had been strengthened to something she had never felt before. In fact, she had suspicions that Dying Will Mode unlocked a different version of herself entirely.

"I did it."

* * *

 **A/N: This chapter was a bit more disconnected than the others, and not many important events or characters were introduced. Next chapter will have the first big arc though! Enter Mukuro.**


	4. Cruelty of an Unknown World

Cruelty of an Unknown World

Flower No Flower

Flower no flower

mist no mist

arrives at midnight

and leaves at dawn

arrives like a spring dream – how many times

leaves like a morning cloud – nowhere to find

- _Bai Juyi_

X X X X

"Welcome, everyone, to my poetry recital," she said to her bedroom. Her audience consisted of Takeshi, Hayato, an annoyed Reborn, and some stuffed animals. "As you all know, my teacher has instructed me to have more hobbies, as I apparently 'do not have a life.' Therefore, I wrote this special poem about how cool and busy I am, because, while I cannot defy Reborn since I'm a pussy, I still want to prove him wrong. Please listen to my work ' _Friends are nice, but they kind of fuck up everything_.'" She breathed in.

Friends are nice but they kind of fuck up everything

Like, before this happened I could just relax in my room

And now I am constantly in life-or-death situations

And weirdly enough, people seem to want to kiss me now

I am honestly still in shock, guys

Hibari-senpai?!

I am very proud of myself for not vomiting blood

Because I am so stressed out

That is all

Thank you.

"Wow, Tsuna, that was very profound," she said, applauding herself. "I couldn't even tell you made it up as you went along. Yessss, very niiiiice. And was that freeform?" She clapped even louder to cover up the silence of the room, and imitated cheering fans. "Go Tsuna! Your future as a poet it really bright!" She stopped abruptly and turned to the silent room. Reborn was on his phone, bored, while Hayato and Takeshi seemed to be in shock. "Really? Was it that bad? My closest compatriots can't even give me feedback?"

"Hibari-senpai kissed you?!" the boys screeched at the same time. Reborn didn't even look up, because he was obviously omniscient and knew everything and was never surprised because he was an asshole.

"Really? No, 'Wow, Tsuna, you're my super wonderful best friend and I totally support your poetry career?' I mean, I get that Hibari-senpai was the main focus, but you guys are really acting unsupportive right now." She lifted her voice until it sounded like a haughty whine. To be honest, she was also freaking out and really wanted to talk about just went down. In fact, that was why she had gathered them all in this room and forced them to listen to on-the-spot freeform poetry.

"Sorry, Tenth-"

"Nevermind! I am panicking! Hibari-senpai, demon of Nami Chuu, kissed me!" She was pacing around the room and gesturing wildly with her hands. "I mean, it was fun to make him blush and all that but I never assumed he was — well, you _know_." Tsuna collapsed to the floor, curling up in fetal position and letting out a high keen.

"Tsuna-nee is ranked #504 out of 86,202 mafia members for being most nonchalant when receiving romantic attention, so you're acting really out of character right now," a boy said, peeking through the doorway.

"That's because it's Hibari-senpai, Fuuta-chan!" Her voice sounded like she was dying. Tsuna had perked up enough to look the kid in the eyes, and Hayato and Takeshi were staring between the two blankly. "Guys, this is Fuuta-chan. He's a pretty cool dude who can, like, talk to aliens or some shit. He lives here now."

Tsuna had actually met Fuuta in her house where he had been for some reason. Maybe she should make a sequel to _Friends are nice, but they kind of fuck up everything?_ It would be called _Maybe you need to start accepting that strangers are going to continue to show up in your house, Tsuna, you whiny bitch._ That was a topnotch, god-tier, S-class fucking title, and that's why it needed to be so long. She was an artist, goddamnit!

X X X X

After many attempts of trying to ditch the boys, she finally made it to the bookstore. Alone. As she was perusing — and what a fucking nerd word that was — the tiles, a new arrival caught her eye. A special print of various H.P. Lovecraft works! The cover was so beautifully illustrated! She had to have it! But, just as she touched the book another's hand had reached it as well.

The ultimate cliche!

Hesitantly, she looked at the person she was bound to have a romantic interaction with and found a girl around the same age and height as her. Well, that was new. Not that Tsuna was complaining of course, since she liked girls just as much as she liked boys, and this girl in particular was crazy cute.

"E-eto, I'm so sorry, Stranger-san!" The girl squeaked and handed the book to her.

"Ah, no it's fine. You can have it. I'll just grab another…" Tsuna looked and paled in horror. That was the only copy! Fucking shit, man… "Ehhhhhh~" Her soul floated out of her body in misery, while the girl panicked and fussed about her. "It's fine. I'm fine," she wheezed with dying breath.

"No! I really insist you take it!" she held out the book to Tsuna more firmly, and Tsuna at least had the decency to pull herself of the floor then. Honestly, with the way people thought of her, they must assume she was some kind of monster with no manners. And while Tsuna was a monster, her Mama raised her right!

"Alright, alright," she sighed, and took the book from the girl. "How about I buy it, and after I'm done you can borrow it from me, yeah?" Inside, Tsuna smirked evilly. A key factor of this plan involved getting. those. digits. She was a master playa', ain't no lie.

"I-I suppose…" The girl quivered, before flushing with embarrassment. "Oh! I haven't even introduced myself…" She bowed slightly before straightening. "My name is Chrome; it's nice to meet you." Tsuna literally swooned. This girl was cute as hell and for some reason Tsuna felt like a dirty old pervert for even being near her. Was it weird to call the police on yourself?

"I'm Tsuna!" She smiled her very best smile, the one that didn't make her look crazy. Ha, as if she ever looked crazy. Tsuna was probably the most sane dame in the game, people just didn't know it. Still, Reborn had been making her practice expressions is the mirror because apparently she lacked "the basic skills of human interaction." Reborn was such a dick. And a liar! Obviously, so many boys — two, three if you counted Shamal which she did not — wouldn't want to kiss her if she wasn't a social beast. "Here, let me give you my number so I can text you when I'm finished!"

Chrome seemed nervous but pulled out an old mobile anyway. Luckily, Tsuna was very adept at the old way of texting. 8-7777-88-66-2 444-7777 2 44-666-8 22-444-8-222-44. See? Anyway, she put in her number and sent a basic text. Feeling her own phone ring in her pocket, she took it out and saw that it had worked! Unfortunately, she also had a text from Reborn~

 _Come to the hospital immediately or I will murder you._

The text made her pause slightly, though she was sure nothing serious happened. Just to be sure, she texted her mother who said she was safe at home. Breathing a sigh of relief, she said "Hey, Chrome-chan, do you want to grab some frozen yogurt with me? There's this place down the street that's pretty rockin'. It'll be my treat, of course." Tsuna was pretty sure that if you just ignored something, eventually it would calm down and everything would be fine. Besides, she couldn't just leave this poor girl hanging.

"I would love to, Tsuna-san!" Chrome was a fucking miracle girl, and Tsuna's heart seriously just imploded.

X X X X

"How is froyo so soft? Literally, it's like eating lotion if lotion was flavored like cheesecake!" As a person who had eaten lotion before, Tsuna knew that lotion was far, _far_ less solid and appealing. She was basically an old person too, because she just fuckin loved her some soft foods. Instant mashed potatoes, Nutella, smoothies, you name it. Her favorite thing was not having to chew. Man, she couldn't wait for her dencher days.

"Y-yes, it is very good, Tsuna-chan," Chrome softly replied. Tsuna had used her wicked persuasion powers to beg Chrome to call her something less formal. Mostly she just said " _Preeettttyyyyy Pleeeeeeassse"_ until Chrome got so uncomfortable she had to comply. Chrome had, of course, chosen to get dark chocolate flavor since she was a bad bitch, while Tsuna chose strawberry cheesecake since she was just a bitch, and a slightly basic one at that.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket.

 _You are the dancing queen~_

 _Young and sweet~_

 _Only seventeen~_

 _Dancing queen~_

She looked on the screen and saw a picture of Angry Reborn flashing. She looked at her unfinished cup and then at Chrome remorsefully.

"I should probably go, Chrome-chan," she sighed, pouting. "Call me if you ever want to meet up again~" She winked at the girl before she left and was delighted by her faint blush. Chrome waved shyly back.

"Sup?" she asked, balancing the phone between her shoulder and ear while scooping some delicious treat into her mouth. Let it never be said that Tsuna could not multitask.

"Sup? I texted you half an hour ago! Where are you?" Reborn seethed. _Tsuna. Was. Shocked._ Reborn was slightly less annoying when he showed actual emotion, and he was definitely raging right now.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm walking there now. Tell you the deets when I get there," she said and hung up abruptly. Tsuna's favorite part of not being a real human being was not having to say goodbye to people during phone calls. She literally always just hung up like she was the star of an action movie. Which she basically was, since this was an ACTION and not a ROMANCE, not matter what the plot was trying to pull!

Tsuna was going to be the star of a Shounen even if it killed her. She would join the ranks of the greatest Strong Boys of all time. Monkey D. Luffy, Naruto, Ichigo Kurosaki...maybe even _Edward Elric~_

"Helloooooow, I am looking for an angry man in a fedora, please~" She smiled as the woman at the desk gave her the room number. The hospital really should make it harder for just anyone to wander in. Tsuna had seen the shooter episode of _Grey's Anatomy_ and found herself slightly concerned about how easily she had just walked in.

Just then, she received another text.

 _Sasagawa Ryohei is in the hospital. Hibari Kyoya and Fuuta are currently missing._

What the hell?! Why hadn't Reborn told her as soon and he knew? She supposed she should have been more worried when he mentioned the hospital, but so far the Daily Life Arc hadn't resulted in any serious situations, and she let herself grow complacent in peace. As she walked in the room, her heart contracted as she saw the white haired boy lying prone on the bed.

She should have gotten here earlier.

"Ryohei-kun's looking pretty rough, Sasagawa-chan," she observed while walking into the hospital room. Reborn was somewhere in hiding since he liked to make dramatic entrances whenever she was around while Kyoko clutched at Ryohei's limp, bandaged hand. Tsuna settled into the chair next to her while she hastily composed herself.

"Nii-san's gotten injured in fights before, but never as badly as this." Her other hand was trembling and Tsuna hesitantly laid her own over it gently. Kyoko turned hers so their palms met and threaded her fingers through Tsuna's. Tsuna stared at her pale face the entire time, but Kyoko's eyes remained focused on the floor. "I'm really worried, Tsuna-chan."

"From what I've heard, Ryohei-kun hasn't been the only one targeted," Tsuna said, uncharacteristically serious for once. "Reborn even told me that Hibari-senpai's gone missing."

"Hibari-senpai!" Kyoko exclaimed. "But-"

"I am thinking the same thing as you, Kyoko," she said comfortingly. "How will the world continue without his tight ass?" As she exclaimed that, something hard hit her head, causing her to collapse face first on the floor.

"This is a serious situation, Dame-Tsuna." Reborn's demon voice echoed. Tsuna looked up to see a being cloaked in black with glowing eyes staring down at her. _I'm so sorry, Mama! I am actually going to be murdered!_ "Where were you for the last forty minutes?" _Reborn's, like, kinda acting like my mom right now, which is pretty weird…_

"Well, at first I was at the bookstore because obvi, and then I was looking at this new compilation of Lovecraft works, when I met this cutie who was also into H.P.'s works. I would call Lovecraft my homeboy, but he was a racissssssst. So, I gave her my digits and we went to grab some froyo," she explained. She had finished the froyo a while back, so she really didn't have anything to prove her story…

"I believe that you went and got frozen yogurt, Tsuna. That is not the problem here." Reborn sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "May I speak to you outside?" he said, glancing at Kyoko and the unconscious form of Ryohei.

From where she sat, Kyoko could hear the furious whisperings from behind the door.

"How could you be so irresponsible? Who just ignores a text about a hospital?!"

"Yeah, my bad, Reborn…"

The next two minutes consisted of Reborn's lecturing and Tsuna's glum acceptance.

 _Tsuna's Guide to Success_

 _Eat bagels, but don't overdo it_

 _Admit when you're wrong, even if it's embarrassing_

Due to #2 on the list, Tsuna had to act like a real man and endure whatever Reborn dished out like he was her sexy lunch lady. Today, the menu item was a strange mystery meat meal that Tsuna was apprehensive about. Usually, there was at least mashed potatoes and corn on the side, but today there was only the earthy, cloying flavor of a block of unidentifiable carnage.

"I know that you're flippant about pretty much _everything_ , but I thought you would at least recognize that one of your friends might be in danger." Reborn's eyes were flat and narrowed, his arms crossed stiffy across his chest. "I'm not just training you to be a mafia boss, I'm training you to be a better human being. Today, I can see that I've failed." The _I'm not angry I'm just disappointed_ tactic had been used on Tsuna many times in her life, but never as devastatingly as now.

"I'm sorry," she said, looking away as tears blurred her vision. "I'm not used to having to worry over anyone but Mama. At the moment you texted me, she was the only one I could think of that could be hurt, and since she said that she was fine, I assumed that this was just another one of your plots. Even if it was, I should have come. You're my teacher and it was wrong of me to disobey you like that. I-I actually am really worried." She sniffled as a traitorous tear ran down her cheek. God, she was such a _wimp._

Large, warm hands rested on her shoulders and guided her to a firm chest. She let her cheek rest against the rich fabric of an expensive suit as strong arms wrapped around her. The salt of her tears was overwhelmed by the scent of Italian espresso. Her hands gently clutched his jacket.

"I'm such an idiotic fuck-up. How can you deal with me all the time?" she asked weakly.

"You're more than that, Tsunami. Trust me."

X X X X

"Alright, team, gather around." Her "team" consisted of Takeshi, Hayato, Bianchi, Haru, and Kyoko. The last two weren't combatants, obviously, but it didn't hurt to have more ideas for strategy. Haru was invited because why not, and once she told Kyoko at the hospital that she was planning of avenging Ryohei, the girl had immediately wanted to help. Mama was currently upstairs entertaining the kids.

"We have basically no information besides that the location is Kokuyo Land and the suspect might be…" She looked at the smudged writing on her hand. "Bokuro Murkory? That doesn't sound right at all…" Tsuna thought that forgetting people's names was a juvenile way of making someone feel bad, so she tried to avoid it. Unfortunately, she also happened to be terrible with names.

"Rokudo Mukuro, you idiot," Reborn said from beside her.

"Yesssss, Rokudo Mukuro, _not_ whatever I said." Tsuna willed the name into her mind. It would be awfully embarrassing is she forgot it again… "Anyways, as I was saying, we have no information whatsoever. If Reborn told us some things that _he_ knows, that would be great," Tsuna threw a pointed look in his direction. "But I have a feeling he won't since this is some sort of 'honor trial' for me." Tsuna rolled her eyes and was cuffed in the head for her efforts. When she turned to him, her eyes watering, clutching her bruised scalp, she saw him standing unmoved. Still, it seemed like some sort of deadly aura radiated from his form...Tsuna shivered.

"Alright, you two," she pointed at Kyoko and Haru. "I know there's not a lot to do this time around, but Reborn has been _kind enough_ to supply us with a covert communications network." She pointed to the tiny black device in her inner ear and handed some bulkier versions to the girls. "I'll fill you in on what's going on and if you have any input, all you have to do is press this button, speak, and I'll hear you." With the devices, they could already hear everything going on around her, anyway. Tsuna just hoped that she remembered to take out the comm after all this was said and done.

"Since you're on the team, even if you're non-fighters, you should still be able to defend yourself if something goes down." Tsuna handed Kyoko a small black pistol, since she seemed like the more responsible one. "You shouldn't need to do anything more than threaten, but shoot if it's necessary." She turned to Haru. "If you feel like your lives are in danger and Kyoko is hesitating, I'm going to need you to take over."

"If that's not okay, you can back out at any time."

"If this is what it takes, Tsuna-chan, then I'll do it." Kyoko's voice was firm and her gaze never wavered from Tsuna's. Haru nodded fiercely beside her. Both their eyes were filled with fire that left her eyes suspiciously wet.

"Then let's dynamize, y'all!"

"That's not how you use that word, Dame-Tsuna."

X X X X

"Is your lizard okay?" Tsuna poked Leon's fluctuating form with the tip of her finger before she was smacked away.

"Whenever Leon's in this state, something bad usually follows," Reborn stated, shading his eyes with the brim of his hat. "It's an omen."

"Listen, I get that you're a cool guy and all, but is the fedora really necessary?" Tsuna could straight up not focus on Reborn's suave moves when he was wearing one of _those_. "I mean, I get it. I really do. But fedoras are still the epitome of douchebaggery, you know?" The back of her head was hit so hard that she fell face-first into the dirt. "You really shouldn't injure me before I'm about to go into a big fight."

"If _that_ injured you, then you haven't been a very good student." Reborn didn't even glance at her fallen form. "Besides, you know what happens when you disrespect your teacher."

Tsuna pouted, face still buried in the carpet.

 _Tsuna's Fight Highlight Reel! *_ _。 ﾟ_ _*_ _ヾ_ _(_ _ゝ_ _з_ _・_ _)_ _ノ_

Hayato-kun defeats some guy with glasses, no problem! Victory!

Takeshi-kun defeats some animal dude maybe in the dark? Victory!

Bianchi is super badass and takes down a band nerd! It still fucking hurt my ears though. Victory!

Some old man and weird zombie people try to kill Kyoko and Haru or something? They don't shoot the zombie men but they get very close before Future!I-Pin and Regular!Shamal kick their asses. Just like in the actual series!

 _I_ defeat a man who has a pretty solid sob story, which is probably insensitive to say. Reborn uses a Dying Will Bullet, which _he promised_ he would not do!

The lesson of this story is never to trust anyone because they're always lying.

 _This concludes Tsuna badly summarizing her own life events. Come back next time!_

"Hellooooooo…" Tsuna whispered as she entered the Kokuyo building.

"Idiot, who are you trying greet? The enemy?" Reborn scolded, which Tsuna didn't think he had the right to do since he hadn't helped at _all._ Sure, that was his job but Tsuna didn't even want to do this!

"The ghosts? I don't know, maybe Fuuta-chan or Hibari-senpai are around here somewhere? Speaking of, should we, like, look for them?" Tsuna pondered, resting her finger on her chin. "The whole reason I came was to get them, after all."

" _And to avenge Nii-san!"_ a voice in her ear reminded her.

"And to avenge Ryohei-kun, yes," Tsuna agreed. "But rescuing comes before vengeance. Right, Kyoko?" She made a sound of agreement. "After all, what kind of heroine would I be if I didn't look after some damsels in distress?"

" _You're right, Tsuna-chan!"_ Kyoko giggled and Tsuna got the distinct impression that she was twirling a lock of her orange hair.

"Small animal...I will bite you to death." Tsuna flinched instinctively at the words before realizing the source. Hibari-senpai wasn't dead! She turned to look at the sound's direction and found Hibari leaning against the wall, looking a mess and definitely injured. Still, his eyes held a predatory gleam that could only be found when he was super pumped. Tsuna could only hope it wasn't directed at her.

"Hibari-senpai! I'm so glad you're not dead!" That was true for multiple reasons. 1.) She actually respected Hibari a lot as a person. 2.) He was damn sexy. 3.) He's always down to help her in a fight. Usually because the people she was fighting broke the laws of Namimori or something. "Don't you think you should be, like, sitting down? Or something?" At his blank stare, she said "Nevermind, continue with, uh, _that_."

" _Sawada Tsunami! You have arrived!_ " a disembodied voice echoed.

"BRB, Hibari-senpai. I'm kinda in the middle of something right now but talk to you later! It's good to see you breathing!" Without waiting for a reply, she rushed off to wherever the voice was coming from. Right now, it seemed to be to the right. Looking at the stone walls around her, she thought ' _This is not a good idea.'_

Eventually she made it to a wide room, perfect for tournament-style dueling. It had taken her a while to get here. The first right, then two lefts, then another right, then straight, and it was just a whole complicated ordeal. She turned the wrong way once and the voice was very frustrated with her and heckled her about failing her school-mandated hearing tests. Which, like, was totally uncalled for.

"Which one of you is that bitch!" she called. Actually, there was only one guy in the room, besides Fuuta of course. Wait, Fuuta? " _Fuutaaaa!_ You didn't _betray_ me did you?" she wagged her finger.

"I'm staying with Mukuro now, Sawada-san," he replied very flatly.

"Well, that's disappointing but fine I guess. I'm not gonna hurt you but I probably will have to restrain you in some way if you interfere. Which you shouldn't! You're too young for this kind of business, kid. Let me tell you, when _I_ was your age—"

"Vongola! Enough of your mindless, incessant stream of consciousness!" the other guy said. "Let's fight so I can end the line of succession in your famiglia. Then, your mafia and the other mafias connected to it will fall!" He rushed forward with his trident. In a split second, Tsuna's mind cleared in a way it never had before. She felt totally and completely calm.

"Thanks for the goal summary, man. But I think you're being a little-" she dodged a jab "-counterproductive here." She continued dodging at a rapid pace as her words only seemed to make Mukuro even angrier. "The Vongola is actually a pretty tame famiglia. They mainly work in the stock market and regulation of other families. And drugs, but, you know, it's the mafia. Anyway, there's a lot of corruption, but _I_ would change that as a boss because I am the only person allowed to be morally corrupt." She smiled. "So who has two thumbs and shares a common goal with you?" She pointed at herself. "This guy."

"It's nice that you would say that, but all mafia scum are the same." The world shattered around her and her vision failed. In fact, all of her senses were gone. It was almost like being underwater again, except for one major difference: she had her intuition. When he struck again, she was still able to dodge.

"This is a pretty shitty illusion. 0/10 for creativity." she might have said. She still couldn't hear anything. Because of the state she was in, however, she was calm and confident about her every action.

"Oh? Let's try something else then."

* * *

 **A/N: He's here, baby!**


	5. The Drifting Does Go On

The Drifting Does Go On

 **Warnings: semi-explicit suicidal thoughts, bullying, suggestions of possible mental illness, mention of torture, lots of kissing**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own KHR**

The Little White Rose

The rose of all the world is not for me.

I want for my part

Only the little white rose of Scotland

That smells sharp and sweet—and breaks the heart.

- _Hugh MacDiarmid_

X X X X

"Mama, why can't Tsu-chan stay with you during the day anymore?" she asks. She's holding her mother's hand tightly, afraid of everything and everyone. The world is muffled now, and for that is all the more terrifying. Her heart clenches in pain around the fluttering of anxiety, but she can't remember why.

"It's time for you to go to school! Everybody your age does it!" Her mama looks down and smiles at her, but Tsuna is not reassured. She's so, so, so scared, but there's something digging at the back of her mind. What is it? "You'll have more fun here than with your boring old mama at home!"

Her class is pretty big, since there's only four kindergarten teachers. They sit her next to another girl. The girl two seats in front of her has nice orange hair. Maybe Mama was right, and school would be fun. No one with orange hair could be bad, right?

"Alright, everyone! I'm your teacher for this year, Honda-san!" the lady in front smiles agreeably. She is much taller than Mama but her face is big and kind. "Why don't we all move to the mats and sit in a big circle? Then, we can all introduce ourselves!"

"Hello, I'm Honda-san! I like the color green and teaching children like you!" Honda-san introduces herself. There's a boy named Toshiro who likes dinosaurs, and Hana likes to read, and Takeshi likes baseball. Eventually, they get to her.

"H-hi! Ts-tsu-chan likes, um, u-" There's a great, cold emptiness inside of her. What does she like? Does she like anything at all anymore? What did she used to like? "Ummm," she starts to sniffle and fat tears fill her eyes.

"Oh, dear," Honda-san says.

"Hey," the boy nexts to her leans in to whisper. "You're kinda dame, aren't you?"

' _Yes,'_ she thinks. ' _Yes, I'm dame.'_

Tsuna blinks and the tears roll down her cheeks, but when she opens her eyes she is in a large room. She gasps.

"Ok, fine! That was a go-"

X X X X

She's in second grade. She sits down for lunch, alone in a courtyard filled with other children. Alone in a world made for people with friends. Hesitantly, a boy sits across from her. He's a new student; he doesn't know that she's dame. Still, she offers him a shy smile and he beams in response.

"Hi, I'm Kagami! What's your name? Do you want to be friends? I think you're really pretty!" he says in a rush. Tsuna blushes; he seems so nice.

"Hi, I'm-"

"DAME-TSUNA!" is shouted from behind. A larger boy and a group of his friends gather around them. The boy who shouted wraps his arm around her neck loosely in a mockery of friendship. Tsuna can feel tears burning at her eyes. She swallows and looks down. "What are you doing to the new kid? Indoctrinating him into your weird club? Oh, wait, to have a club you have to actually have friends!" He takes her open bento box and turns it upside down, stepping the upturned contents into the dirt.

"Listen, can you play baseball?" he addresses the new kid. Tsuna wonders what trait she has that makes these people hate her so much. Plenty of kids are average like her, why is she the one picked on? "We need an extra player."

"I-I like baseball, but-" Kagami is interrupted by the boy pulling on his arm. He tries to make eye contact with her but she doesn't turn until he's much farther away. She sees Yamamoto Takeshi in the distance, watching her with a blank look on his face. When he feels her gaze, he looks away and forces his face into a wide grin for the kids coming up to him.

She walks to the trees where she can sit and read undisturbed. She can still feel his emotionless eyes on her, but ignores him and the hunger in her gut.

Tsuna gasps.

X X X X

She's in sixth grade now. She's not at school at the moment but it's gotten much worse lately. Before the girls used to ignore her, but now they actively hurl sly insults at her any moment they can. Which is usually most of the day not during lessons. The teachers don't stop any of it; they hate her too. She's failing most of her classes. What's the point in trying if she's still dame anyway?

She's in the bath, fully submerged in water. Looking through the water to the ceiling, Tsuna wonders how long she can hold her breath before she passes out. Even now, her lungs burn, fighting against her to inhale. She thinks about breathing in the water, how it would feel to have her lungs filled completely with something heavier than air, how she wouldn't even be able to scream. And then she sits up.

The bathroom is comfortingly lit, like everything in her mother's house. The bubbles from her shampoo glint from the bath water's surface, achingly strange and beautiful. Reaching out with a pale finger, her eyes watch and gleam golden as one popped under her touch. Underneath the rainbow jewels, honey hair curls softly in the soapy water, long enough that it was almost unmanageable. Tsuna thinks fleetingly about reaching into the cabinet, taking scissors, and chopping until she has no hair left at all.

Instead, she balances on her heels and stood, feeling her wet hair stick to her skin. She shifts, pushing it off of her arms to gather at her neck where she rings it out carefully. She catches herself in the mirror and her chest burns. Her eyes dart away hurriedly. What use does the world have for a dame like her?

Tsuna gasps.

X X X X

When Tsuna finally got her warmth back, she had a bottle of sleeping pills in her night stand. She lied to her mother and her doctor, looked up the symptoms of insomnia. She held that bottle of pills a lot. Sometimes she would even open it. Then, she would hear her mother's footsteps on the creaky floorboards and she would put it back in the drawer. She was meditating that night, but her heart wasn't in it. She just stared at the pills.

If it was gonna be any night, it was gonna be tonight. She opened the bottle.

Tsuna gasps.

X X X X

There were hundreds of other visions, maybe thousands more. In the end, it was just her and Mukuro again. Not even the room was there, it was only darkness. They stood fifteen feet from each other. Tsuna felt pathetic, her breath rapid and her eyes tearing.

"I hope you understand now," he said. "That whole ordeal lasted seconds for me. I could have killed you anytime I wanted. That is the power of an illusionist." In a split second, the lights of tens of fires flickered into existence. The darkness disappeared, but did not reveal the room they used to be in. Instead, they stood in a rich ballroom, surrounded by people dancing in fine clothes. When she looked down, Tsuna was also wearing an elaborate ballroom gown, the color of blood. She looked up and she was alone in the middle of the dance floor.

"May I have this dance?" came a voice from behind. Startled, she turned and music started to play. Mukuro stood bowed there, dressed in a beautiful dark suit. Tsuna could feel her heart stutter with apprehension.

"I suppose so," she replied. He took her hand and lead her into a slow waltz.

"You must understand why this is happening, right?" he leans to murmur in her ear. "The mafia are scum. I understand that you don't live in Italy so you don't understand the connotation, but the mafia are the worst of the worst. Men, women, and children live in fear of them. _It's not_ _cool_ ; it deserves to be eradicated."

"For someone who has been inside my mind, you don't know _anything_ about me." She looks up to meet his eyes. "Even for someone who isn't really told about the atrocities of the mafia, I know it isn't all fun and games. I don't really want to be a part of the mafia at all.

"But if I have to, then...then, I'll change the mafia for the better. The Vongola was once a vigilante group; I'll make it like that again! When the government or other familigias do something unjust, I'll make sure we step in. I don't know what the mafia did to you, but as the Vongola Tenth, I would stop it from happening again."

The music stopped and everything around them froze in time.

"Your words are empty." Mukuro's visible eye was hard. "You don't know what happened to me. Even if you changed the Vongola, who's to say that in thirty, fifty, a hundred years it doesn't change back to a bloodthirsty monster of an organization? Let me tell you something, Vongola, my goal isn't to kill you." Tsuna quirked an eyebrow in surprise.

"I'm going to possess your body. Everyone will think that you defeated me and saved the day, but you'll be tucked away in a corner of your mind, unable to speak or move while I'm in control. You'll have to watch as I kill your friends and family members off one by one with your hands. Then, I'll destroy the Vongola from within and every other mafia famiglia with it!" His hands tightened around hers.

"Why does murder have to be the only option!" she cried. "I've seen how man can be cruel, but that doesn't mean that change is impossible! We can change the system; we don't have to destroy it!"

" _You have not seen the cruelty of man!_ "

For a moment, their surroundings changed to a laboratory. There were scientists talking over the dead body of a child while other children watched in cages. There was blood everywhere. "...failed attempt...possession bullet…"

The lab flickered out of existence, back into the murky blackness.

"You weren't supposed to see that."

"What happened to the men who- who did-"

"I killed every scientist in that laboratory. The famiglia doesn't exist anymore."

"I can't blame you for that. In fact, I'm glad for it," she said. "But eradicating the entire mafia is not a solution. In fact, I don't think it's even possible. New groups will always form, and you are just one man. Y-you could help me! To change everything! I'm in a position where I can do that, where I'm _obligated_ to do that."

Tsuna gasped.

She was back in room. In front of her stood Mukuro in the same position he was in before, but it seemed that Hibari joined the party as well. His tonfas were blocked by a wicked trident. Disoriented, she looked behind her to see Hayato and Takeshi at her flanks.

"Whaaa? How long have you guys been here?" she squawked.

"We just got here, Dame-Tsuna," Reborn spoke over the noise of Mukuro and Hibari's battle. "Question is: what the hell were you doing before we got here?" He cuffed her on the back of the head harshly.

"I was just-" Tsuna rubbed her aching head. "I was-"

At that moment, a great burst of sakura blossoms burst into the air. The effect was immediate: Hibari, already beaten up, collapsed to the floor after a single breath.

X X X X

"Mukuro," Tsuna said as she stood over his badly-beaten form. "You hurt a lot of people who are important to me, but I was willing to work with you. Now, I think it's too late for that." She could feel the newly-formed gauntlets surrounding her hands morph back into mittens. Finally, the threat was defeated.

"Sawada Tsunami-" Mukuro began. Suddenly, chains shot out and wrapped themselves around the Kokuyo gang. When Tsuna looked up, she saw a posse of bandaged and cloaked men towering over the proceedings.

"What?" she exclaimed.

"Vongola Tenth!" the middle one called. "I thank you on behalf of the Vindice for capturing the dangerous criminal Rokudo Mukuro. We will take it from here." Just then, the chains pulled the bloodied forms of the captives to a slowly-forming black void. Tsuna could only watch in horror as their bodies disappeared into the abyss.

"I'm sure these next few months will be...interesting," he continued, before the men stepped into the void as well. Tsuna felt like she was going to vomit blood if the ominous atmosphere wasn't alleviated soon.

"Well, that went better than expected." Then, Tsuna passed out.

X X X X

School on Monday was business as usual. Everyone was super stoked to be there, and Hibari terrorized the innocents in the streets. You could always hear the pained screaming of middle schoolers in Namimori.

The class chattered as usual. A decently sized group gathered around the desk of a pretty girl who had just gotten back from vacation. "So there I was, on an American football field during the Homecoming ceremony, trying not to vomit in front half the population of this small, east coast town-" She was interrupted by the door slamming open.

"I'm back motherfuckers!" Tsuna announced. A lot of students wondered what she meant since the whole Kokuyo disaster had occurred on a Sunday. Reborn said that if she missed school he would burn all her posters (even Patrick Swayze!), and she wasn't that much of a masochist. The class did notice, however, that she had some impressive bruises and a scabbed-over cut on her temple. (Reborn did not catch her when she passed out.)

"What happened to you, Dame-Tsuna?" jeered a boy a couple rows back.

"Wisdom teeth."

X X X X

"WOOHOO! BASEBALL! GO TAKESHI-KUN! I DON'T KNOW HOW THIS GAME WORKS BUT I AM SO EXCITED!" Tsuna cheered. She sat on the stands next to Gokudera as the baseball team played one of the last games of the season. From the field, Takeshi looked up to her and grinned. "Oh, this is so cool!" She smiled and rested her hand on the bleacher. Beneath it, she felt something warm and rough.

"Hmmm?" she looked down and saw Hayato's hand under hers. Slowly she raised her head. Hayato was a mess, face red, quivering with wide eyes. "Oh! I'm so sorry Hayato-kun! I don't want you to feel uncomfortable around me!" As she began to lift her hand, it was gently but feverishly grabbed.

"Yo-you could never make me uncomfortable, Tenth…" he said quietly. Tsuna smiled and moved her hand so it was grasping his gently.

Takeshi stepped up to the plate and breathed out slowly. He glanced to the stands and saw Tsuna smiling down at him encouragingly. The pitcher threw a fastball. One...Two...Three...Crack! Takeshi hit a homerun!

After the game ended (with Namimori's victory, of course), Takeshi exited the locker room to see Tsuna and Hayato waiting for him. Tugging at the collar of his jacket, he smiled at them, flushed and pleased.

"That was sick as hell! You, like, hit the ball and stuff and I got to learn what a homerun was from the old lady sitting next to me, and…" Tsuna trailed off, looking somewhere off to the side.

"Tsuna? What is it?"

"It's nothing, I guess. I just thought I saw something…"

Ahead of them, a young boy's eye slowly bled a glowing scarlet.

X X X X

"Is there usually a beach episode in Shounen manga?" Tsuna asked quizzically, turning the brochure over in her hands. While she reads it upside down, Reborn is posed forebodingly over her shoulder. "I mean, my main genre is adventure, right? _Right?!_ "

"This isn't a beach vacation, Dame-Tsuna." Reborn cuffs her on the back of the head. This time is much more gentle than usual. What could be so awful that Reborn isn't trying to kill her? "We're going on a trip to Mafia Land."

"Oh! Then, no. I decline."

Somehow, Tsuna found herself on a large boat with practically everyone she knew.

"Hibari-senpai shouldn't even be here!" she insisted, gesturing wildly to the boy mentioned. "What will happen to Nami Chuu? A revolt?! The apocalypse! Oh my god, the continuation of _The Big Bang Theory_ after it's scheduled finale?! We have to get back!"

"Tetsuya can handle a long weekend by himself." Tsuna felt a screech bubbling in her throat at the sudden sound of Hibari-senpai's voice, but closed her eyes for a second and held it in. ' _Don't make any noise or sudden movements, Tsuna,'_ she told herself. When she opened her eyes, however, she was alone, living the suite life on deck.

' _Now that I think about it, 'deck' is a really weird word, right?'_ she thought as she entered her room and pulled a light, white dress over her head. It fell a little above mid-thigh, but it was just a pull-over for her swimsuit. She left her room and locked the door. You can never be too careful on a boat of mafiosos! ' _Deck, deck, deck, deck, deck. D-E-C-K? D-'_

"Tsuna-chan?" called a voice over her shoulder. "What are you doing out so late?" She turned to look, but it was only Takeshi. He was right, the stars were out and the _deck_ was completely deserted. What time was it? After midnight, probably.

"I...I wanted some fresh air, I guess." She turned to him fully. To look him in the eyes, she always had to crane her head up because he was so much taller than her. The night was dark and silent, hovering over them like a cloak. The moonlight reflected off of Takeshi's eyes. In Japan, there was so much light pollution that the stars weren't nearly as bright as they were here, on the open sea.

"I'm glad that it's just the two of us here, because I wanted to talk to you about something," he said.

"Well, alright...Go ahead," she said. With a furrow in his brow, he took her hands in his loosely and held them between their bodies. Takeshi's hands were large and calloused from baseball and swordplay. They enveloped hers warmly.

"Do you remember the day I found you and Ryohei on the sidewalk?" he asked. Tsuna had the sudden urge to soothe her nose from a jolt of phantom pain. Still, she nodded. "Well, before I noticed your nose-" again, Tsuna resisted the urge to wince "-I felt really weird about you and Ryohei together. I didn't realize why until later on. I wanted to be that close to you because I like you."

"Takeshi-kun, you are close to me. You and Hayato-kun are my best friends," she said.

"That's not what I mean. Like, close, but in a different way. I like you as more than my best friend." At this point, Tsuna had a choice to make. She could act oblivious and stupid by saying 'like your very best friend?' or something equally as banal, or she could actually face Takeshi's feelings as someone he cared about. Being oblivious was overrated long term.

For a moment, she simply looked into his eyes. Then, she slipped her hands from his, placed them on his broad shoulders, and tugged so that his face was a more manageable distance from hers. Looking into his warm dark eyes, she knew something and felt something more identifiable and proactive than she had ever felt in a situation like this one. Usually, these things were sudden for her, but Takeshi had actually talked to her about his feelings before he made any sort of move.

Tsuna stood on her toes, leaned in and pressed her lips to his.

There's a reason people kiss. The lips are sensitive; they have a lot of blood vessels close to the surface of the skin. That's why they're pink in color. Pressing lips provides a lot more sensation than touching calves or something. You don't have to have heard about or seen kissing to kiss, it's instinctive.

For Takeshi, kissing was obviously a natural talent. After he had gotten used to the sensation, he seemed to experiment with method. Fairly soon, he found that this position was not optimal for a prolonged amount of time. Gently, his hands found the back of Tsuna's thighs and he lifted her carefully. Instinctively, her legs tightened around his waist and her arms circled around his neck.

Suddenly, Tsuna felt ravenous.

Her legs constricted around his waist and her upper arms dug into his broad shoulders. Her mouth opened and she licked his lips. Surprised, Takeshi opened his mouth in a gasp. Her tongue swirled around his. She reached her leg until it caught behind his knee, and in a moment they were on the floor. That was probably an abuse of Reborn's training.

At the thought of Reborn, her mind cleared a little. Her skin still felt hot, but she could think about things other than...

Oh no! She separated herself from Takeshi in a split second, rolling off of him and onto the hardwood. Her face burned. "I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed, mortified. With her head in her hands, she ran off into the night, leaving behind a bewildered Takeshi.

"Reborn, open up!" she whisper-shouted, knocking quietly but incessantly at his door. Suddenly, the door next to her opened, revealing a shadowy figure wearing striped pajamas.

"I'm the next one over, Dame-Tsuna." Reborn smirked. Tsuna squeaked, looking at the door she had been abusing with wide eyes. Yikes.

"There's no time for that!" she pulled him into his room and yanked the door closed. "I was gonna eat Takeshi-kun!" she exclaimed.

"What does that even mean."

"Well, me and Takeshi-kun were on... _deck,_ " she took a moment to giggle. Reborn looked at her like she was crazy, but she didn't have time to explain. " _Anywayzzzz,_ he was like 'I like you' and I was like 'I want to be the guy this time' so I kissed him, but it wasn't like that time with Ryohei-kun or that time with Hibari-senpai. Like, I could not physically dominate him enough. I really felt like I was just gonna eat his face off or something! Isn't that worrying?"

"No, it is not."

"Whaaaaat?! Am I a flesh-eating demon? Is that what you've always worried about telling me!" She pointed her finger accustively at him.

"No?" he said. "Listen, it's perfectly normal for flame-active female skies to exhibit behavior like what you just described. You're about the right age for this to start happening. Most female skies experience a need for control in bed and also a higher libido than what is usually normal. That's why it's perfectly acceptable and even encouraged that they have multiple partners."

"I-I'm-" she struggled. "I'm going through magical puberty?!"

"Think of it as a sexual renaissance, if it makes you feel better."

X X X X

 _Tsuna's Vacation Highlight Reel! *_ _。 ﾟ_ _*_ _ヾ_ _(_ _ゝ_ _з_ _・_ _)_ _ノ_

I can't bribe people for shit! _Fatality!_

Reborn has a blonde friend! Who knew? _Cool stuff!_

We stopped Reborn's other friend from invading Mafia Land! _Victory!_

I'm pretty sure I illegally worked as a lifeguard! _That's worrisome!_

No one died! _Victory!_

 _This concludes Tsuna badly summarizing her own life events. Come back next time!_

"Alright, everyone! Not only is this a poetry recital, this is a PSA. I'm glad we have more of a turn out this time, word must really be getting around. Unfortunately, my stuffed animals and posters could not be here this time since we are on a boat," she announced. Reborn sighed. In the crowd, Hayato, Takeshi, and Ryohei watched curiously. Hibari sat, annoyed at the crowd and at life. "This is called: _I am becoming a recluse now_."

I am becoming a recluse now

because I am going through weird magical puberty

or a sexual renaissance,

whatever floats your boat.

But anyway, goodbye everyone.

I will now shut myself away

so I don't eat someone if they kiss me.

Catch me playing _Mario Kart._

Oh, wait, you won't because

I am now a shut-in.

"I actually think I'm getting better at these!"

"Yes, Dame-Tsuna the tie-in at the end was very nice. But, I told you this was a perfectly normal experience for female skies and you don't have to become a recluse. Also, you're not going to eat anyone!" Reborn slapped a hand to his forehead. "The Eighth was a female sky as well and it was very accepted that all of her children had different fathers."

"I think I'm just going to die now," she said, melting to the floor sadly.

"What's going on?!" Hayato screeched impatiently.

"Weird sky puberty, idk."

"A biological process in which-"

Tsuna and Reborn said at the same time.

Tsuna looked at the clouds and tuned out the rest of Reborn's explanation. That one looked like a dog. That other one also looked like a dog. There was also that other one, the dog. That one was a dog's head, but with the body of an elephant. Now all the clouds moved so they were little fishies in the ocean of the sky.

"Reborn, can I have a support-fish when we get home?" she asked. No one answered. When she turned her head to look at her poetry recital crowd, it consisted of a silent Reborn and four shocked teenage boys. Even Hibari's eyes were slightly widened, which was a big deal.

"Reborn-"

"No, Tsuna, you don't even like fish," he said. "You once went on an hour-long rant to me about how fish are one of the most useless of all the pets. I can't believe you forgot you did that."

"I don't know maybe I was asleep?" she said. "But then, that would be my most inner and honest interpretation of pet fish...You're right, Reborn. I'll never have a pet fish till the day I die!" She pondered for a moment. "What kind of pet should we get then? A cat?"

"Tsuna, I don't think we'll have to worry about that for very long at all."

* * *

 **A/N: Lmao that was a lot.**

 **Thanks to everyone that followed, favorited, and reviewed. Love u all a lot. Writing this was hard bc I had a lot of tests this week and my chem teacher is actually insane. So, yikes! Wish me luck lol.**


	6. French Extremism

French Extremism

Catullus 85

I hate and I love. Why do I do this, you may inquire.

I do not know, but I feel it happening and I am tortured.

 _-Catullus_

X X X X

"Now, as we all know, the diamond in this scene is meant to symbolize baseball, which, as is common knowledge, has a field in the shape of a diamond. There are four bases on a baseball field, which is frequently-invoked imagery in order to explain how far a person and that person's partner have advanced sexually. There is first base, usually kissing. Then second base, when you and your partner buy a young Russian doll to foster into its adulthood. That, of course, means adding layers when you feel like your doll has reached a certain level of maturity, but that's another lesson altogether. Anyway, third base is telling your partner that you don't like Christmas movies when you know that they have a very deep love and nostalgia for _Elf_. Fourth base may or may not be sex," Tsuna explained. "But anyway, it's clear that in _Titanic,_ the ocean and the Titanic are meant to be lovers and larger symbols used to embody the love between Jack and Rose."

"Sawada, this was supposed to be a book report on _A Farewell to Arms_ ," the teacher sighed.

"Which leads me to my next point, the screenplay for _Titanic_ is better than anything Ernest Hemingway ever wrote in his life!" Tsuna gestured very ambiguously. In truth, she had not read _A Farewell to Arms_ at all. There were multiple reasons for this: 1.) She had a lot of better books to read. 2.) Hemingway was kind of a dick. 3.) She was busy not reading it. "First of all-"

"Sawada, you have taken up a whole class period explaining how the ocean and Titanic in _Titanic_ were romantically and sexually involved. While it is an interesting point, and your classmates are probably pleased that we had no classwork today, it's time to wrap it up. Please return to your seat. If you actually want a grade, turn in an actual book report tomorrow. Class dismissed."

"Love you so much, Hyuuga-san!" Tsuna walked out of the door backwards, her hands held over her heart. Turning to the boys that had appeared on either side of her, she said, "Hyuuga-san is the coolest cat in school! I have no idea why she indulges me like that but she should _really_ stop."

"Maa, she's too old to care anymore. And anyways, I think she likes you," Takeshi said, stretching his arms to the sky.

When Tsuna thought about it, Hyuuga-san really never had been mean to her. Even when she was dame, she always treated her the same as she treated everyone else. Tomorrow, maybe she'd stay after class and talk to her for a while.

The world in front of them exploded in blue flames.

"Oh my god why."

 _Tsuna's Fight Highlight Reel! *_ _。 ﾟ_ _*_ _ヾ_ _(_ _ゝ_ _з_ _・_ _)_ _ノ_

Ouch! _Fatality!_

 _This concludes Tsuna badly summarizing her own life events. Come back next time!_

"Goddamn, we just got _beat_ , my guys," Tsuna said, lying on the ground bonelessly. Sincerely, the fight was the embodiment of the word "yikes!" Considering it was a bunch of young teenagers fighting against an experienced, long-haired man the outcome was not very surprising. "Thank God Dino was here, I guess."

"Yes, there's something we need to talk about regarding that encounter," Dino said. He then explained the affair, which boiled down to a man with a certain motivation: Xanxus di Vongola, leader of the Varia.

"So why isn't he the heir? Isn't he the ninth's son?" Takeshi asked.

"Years ago, Xanxus orchestrated a major coup d'etat to take over the Vongola after his brothers died. It was violent and bloody, and ended with the ninth imprisoning his own son in ice. Not only does the Vongola not trust Xanxus, but many would rather have it fall then hand it over to him, who would inevitably ruin the work of previous bosses and throw it back into chaos," Dino explained.

Deep inside of her, Tsuna knew there was more to it than that. But she also had a feeling that Dino and most other people weren't aware of any of the true reasoning behind the coup or the current challenge. ' _Think,'_ echoed inside of her head. It didn't feel like her voice.

But in her core, a deep feeling of dread was building.

X X X X

"I do not want Lambo in this fight. Choose someone else," Tsuna stated, arms crossed and unyielding. A deep scowl was etched on her face. Across from her sat her father and Reborn. They'd been arguing for over an hour on the issue, even though Tsuna thought the solution was apparent. Lambo was five years old, obviously he shouldn't be put against a grown man. Either choose another person, or forfeit the match.

In fact, all of the guardians had already been chosen without Tsuna's knowledge or input. She could only hope that Reborn had some influence on the decisions. Though, looking at him now, complacent in the indirect murder of a child, she doubted his judgement for the first time since she met him.

All she knew about her guardians was who their trainers were. Reborn's friends, referred to as the 'Arcobaleno' had come, though Reborn had muttered under his breath about Skull's presence. In fact, Reborn had grumbled a lot in the process of getting them to come. Apparently Verde had been quite difficult and Viper was not available at all. In addition to them, Shamal, Dino, and Takeshi's dad were helping out. Tsuna wasn't sure what the use of the Arcobaleno was, since there wasn't going to be much flame training, but apparently the Cervello were very persistent in suggesting it.

"We're not discussing this any longer," her father said. "Lambo is your lightning guardian; he'll fight for you." For a man she hadn't seen in ten years, he was awfully controlling.

"Fine!" she stood abruptly and stormed to her room, closing the door behind her. Obviously she would never slam a door, her mother would hate that. She sat on her bed, tears slipping unprompted from her eyes.

Who was he to come into her house and order her around? Most people's deadbeat dads left and stayed gone, she didn't know why she was cursed with one who obviously didn't care about her, but hung onto her like a leech anyway. The Vongola's intrusion into her life brought only misery.

"Oh, poor little Vongola~" came a voice in front of her. Hesitantly, she lifted her face from her knees. "Did the bad man hurt your feeliiings?" Mukuro mocked.

"If you're only here to make fun of me, I'd appreciate it if you just left." The first time an illusion of Mukuro had appeared in her bedroom, she had sprayed bleach on it and hoped it would die. But still, he lived on like a cockroach, while she just ended up with a bleached wall.

"Why ever would you think _that_?" he asked. "There are some ways to defy your dear old dad's whims though…" He leaned in to whisper to her.

"Where would I even find one?" she asked after he was done. "Actually, nevermind, I know where. Do you wanna watch _Die Hard_ with me? I'm very sad." And so they sat side by side in bed, watching Alan Rickman's debut film AKA the best movie ever.

"I'm sorry," he said as the credits rolled across the screen.

"What for?" she asked, confused. She turned to him slightly. The room was dim in the night, but she could still see his face.

"I shouldn't have made you relive the memories you did. That was overly cruel, I suppose." At his words, her mind flashed back to her time in Kokuyo. If she had to guess, that would be her hell, with the addition of _Imagine Dragons_ playing constantly in the background. Sorry not sorry, my man.

"I think...that reliving those memories, even though they weren't from so long ago, helped me remember something truly important," she said. "With my new friends and all this mafia business, I forgot what happened. I forgot that I was Dame-Tsuna for a long time. I've lived longer sealed than I have as a normal person, and that's important. I hated myself so much…" she whispered.

Tentatively, Mukuro put his hand on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. He really wasn't very good at being nice. Tsuna looked up so she could meet his eyes, unshed tears blocking her vision and hair falling over her face. He hesitated for a moment, but brushed it back over her ear, long fingers lingering over the side of her cheek.

She lifted her own hand to cover his, curling her fingers and searching his eyes for something deeper. The mismatched eyes held something that she recognized: a heat, almost. Carefully, she leaned closer and brushed her lips over his. Before anything more could occur, she retreated slowly to study his reaction.

"Little Vongola…?" he said. Mukuro wasn't one to let confusion cloud his eyes. Instead, they sharpened, burning to find out what her motivation was. Seeing her expression, open in a way that it hardly ever was, his shoulders relaxed unconsciously. Even when they fought, Tsuna wasn't one for underhanded tactics. If she was, Mukuro couldn't see her end goal in this scenario.

"Was that okay?" she asked.

He leaned in this time, pressing his lips to hers more firmly instead of answering. Tsuna tilted her head so the angle corrected itself. Mukuro's hand found purchase in her hair, curling it around his palm while Tsuna grasped his shoulder gently. Her lips parted against his slightly, her arms moving to wrap loosely around his neck.

"Tsu-chan, can I come in?" there was a knock at the door before it opened slightly. Tsuna's eyes opened in panic. She made severe eye contact with Mukuro.

"Oof!" she exclaimed as she suddenly hit the bed face first. Apparently, Mukuro deemed it fit to leave very abruptly. She sat up, rubbing her nose and wondering why she was always injured when she kissed people.

"Tsu-chan?" She turned to look at the figure in her doorway, finding the form of her puzzled mother.

"Hiiiiiiii…" she said, waving pathetically.

"My poor girl…" her mother said, sitting on the side of her bed. "I'm not exactly sure what you and your father were arguing about, but you have to realize that sometimes he knows what's best for you."

"Mom! I-" she protested. She hadn't seen him for a decade and now he comes into her life to tell her that he's sacrificing a five-year-old for a dumb competition! How is that fair?!

"I know, I know. But I'm not here to talk to you about that," she said. "Your father's asleep, so I thought you and I could hang out for a while?" Tsuna looked up, searching her mother's face and recalling all the times she had cried over Iemitsu's absence. But every time he called or visited, Nana would act like nothing was wrong, instead complacently ecstatic at her husband's presence. Her mother, despite being the only person who ever loved her for a long time, was not her ally in this fight. She couldn't deal with that right now.

"I can't. Um, homework, you know," she said. She heard the door click as her mother left the room quietly. Staring at her bedspread in the dim light, she thought about how she didn't really love her dad.

X X X X

Tsuna didn't interfere when Lambo shot himself with the bazooka in the ring. She waited, up until the giant Levi was about to strike a killing blow.

A gunshot rang through the arena.

Tsuna stood, a gun smoking in her small hand, pointed straight at the other Sky's lightning guardian. He dodged; in the privacy of her own mind, Tsuna let out a sigh of relief. There was no sound.

"We forfeit the lightning match," she said in the silence.

"Sawada Tsunami, for your interference-" the Cervello judge began.

"Just take it," Tsuna sighed, holding the sky ring out.

And she walked away.

She didn't look at anyone, not Reborn or Takeshi or Hayato or even Hibari. Because the truth was, even though she was glad she didn't, she was ready to kill another human being. _Never point a gun if you're not prepared to shoot_ , Reborn had pressed upon her. The mafia was definitely eating her soul.

X X X X

"Nee-chan!" Lambo exclaimed later in the hospital room. Although Tsuna had stopped him from being killed, he was still injured in the fight. Looking at his bruises, Tsuna's throat tightened and she found herself with no regret for her actions earlier that day.

"Oh, Lambo-sama, will you ever forgive your loyal servant for landing you here?" she sighed, collapsing onto the hospital bed limply. Her mother was busy seeing her father off with the rest of the kids, so it was just her and Lambo. He giggled at her words.

"Nee-chan, Lambo-sama's sleepy," he yawned, crawling to curl up on her chest. While he slumbered, Tsuna stared at the ceiling and thought. She'd been doing a lot of that lately. The door creaked open.

"Hi, Reborn," she said, not turning her head.

"I'm sorry, Tsuna," he said. She could feel the hospital bed dip from where he sat next to her. She rested her head against his arm in melancholy.

"I don't understand...why did Lambo have to compete? There was no way for us to win, why couldn't we just forfeit from the beginning?" she asked.

"The Cervello were being difficult. They wouldn't let us move forward if we forfeited. In addition, the Ninth's orders were for Lambo to compete, and your father favored that course of action. I didn't have a choice in the matter." Tsuna had also been crying a lot lately. Maybe she had Seasonal Affective Disorder, because she was SAD—capital S, A, and D.

"I'm glad I met you, Reborn," she said.

"I'm glad I met me too, Dame-Tsuna."

X X X X

 _Tsuna's Ring Battle Highlight Reel! *_ _。 ﾟ_ _*_ _ヾ_ _(_ _ゝ_ _з_ _・_ _)_ _ノ_

Ryohei barely wins against an offensive, inaccurate stereotype of a gay person. _Victory!_

Hayato barely loses against a princely kinkster! _Fatality!_

Takeshi and shark-man's battle is actually pretty lit. _Victory!_

Goddamn! Chrome _and_ Mukuro are my mist guardian! _Victory!_

Hibari wins against the Ninth boss! _What an accomplishment?_

I get my Sky ring back! _Victory!_

 _This concludes Tsuna badly summarizing her own life events. Come back next time!_

"Alright, boyzzz. I'm gonna have to win against this Xanxus guy or we're toast! Literally, because he's going to set us all on fire…" Tsuna thought for a moment. "Perhaps still figuratively though, since we aren't actually bread…Give me a sec." She played around on her phone for a moment. "Ok, so toast does have to be bread. Alrighty, I am ready to throw down! Let's get this bread, sweatys!"

"That's cringey," said Mukuro, possessing Chrome's body.

"Um, actually, cringe culture is toxic and not something we approve of in this household," she paused to reconsider. "Unless it is directed specifically at the phrase 'spooky season.' Anyway-"

"Tsuna, just get on with it," sighed Reborn.

"Good luck, Tenth!" erupted Hayato, visibly vibrating from nervous anticipation. Tsuna blew him a kiss with a wink. He blushed but caught it and turned to put it in his pocket.

"Yeah, good luck, Tsuna-chan!" Takeshi echoed. Following encouragements were made by Ryohei and Chrome. Hibari said nothing but made intense eye contact with her for a while. After a awkwardly long time, she turned away and looked to see Reborn tip his fedora to her in acknowledgement. Tsuna bravely resisted the strong urge to make fun of him for doing that.

Walking up to the ring, she surveyed the crowd around her. Obviously her guardians and those who trained them, including the Arcobaleno, were present. Except for Yamamoto-san, since he had to mind the store. Glancing at the Cervello, she was startled by the intense look in their eyes. If she really focused, she could even sense that their auras were faintly familiar. What-

"Sawada," her train of thought was interrupted. "It's nice to see you even showed up," Xanxus taunted, standing cockily in front of her, completely relaxed. "I don't know how they think a tiny thing like you is going to beat _me._ " He chuckled.

"Oh, _shut up,_ " she complained. "Listen, can we just fight?" she called to the judges over her shoulder. Usually, Tsuna talked a lot, but she couldn't see how it could help in this situation. If she was gonna die today, she might as well get it over with.

There was a tight sensation in her stomach, then orange flames burst into life around her. The mittens on her fingers melted into gauntlets. She could feel everyone and everything around her. The ring halves on her and her opponent's necks called to her. On a larger scale, she could feel her and Xanxus' flames, how they might fit together if given a chance. Shaking her head and dodging a hit, she forced the topic from her mind.

But on the edge of her senses, she could feel something else. Hidden under illusion so tight she would not have noticed before Mukuro's mental imprisonment, there was that familiar presence again! It was dark, stifling, and completely baffling. Strangest of all, it was definitely coming from the Cervello.

There was nothing she could do, however. She was engaged in a fight-to-the-death with a very angry, older man. If she called out, he'd probably just use the opportunity to kill her. There was that calm voice in her head again, telling her to wait it out. Her immediate reaction was doubt, but there was really no other choice and the voice never steered her wrong before.

With a clash, the steel of her gauntlets met a fist on fire. Although her physique was not terribly suited to her position as a brawler, it was apparently a style made for her. While he was open from his previous attack, she swung her fist and aimed slightly to the left of his head. Predictably, his nose gave a satisfying crunch at the force of her attack.

Using flames to propel herself backward, she took a moment to assess the situation before he could retaliate. Taking a deep breath as he drew his pistols, she built a wall of ice in front of her, saving her from instant death.

She took a step forward, her shield moving with her. She could't hear anything over the gunshots. Seeing Xanxus preparing to charge, she closed her eyes for a moment before dropping the ice. Propelling herself forward, she met him a crash of conflagration and pure power. On the outskirts of her senses, she could feel both a stirring of the Cervello's flames and the Varia's mist flames at work.

She could worry no more about that, however. There was a split second in which she could perform the maneuver that, in her soul, she knew would win the fight. When the smoke cleared and Tsuna could see beyond the spots blocking her vision, she saw Xanxus' hands encased in solid ice. Not even the flaring of his flames could melt them.

Ice spreading from the soles of her shoes, she trapped his feet so he could no longer move forward. While he wrathfully struggled, she let her flames dim until she stood as a normal teenage girl once more.

Walking up to him, careful not to slip on the ice covered arena, she carefully unclasped the necklace he wore, removing the half-ring and connecting it with her own. In her hesitation putting it on, it was snatched from her hand by a shadowy figure, revealed to be Xanxus' mist.

"That's totally against the rules!" she exclaimed as the mist revealed the other rings as well. In the audience, there was a murmuring as her guardians discovered their rings missing. She was going to make a scene, when the united rings began to work in union, melting the hard-earned ice that imprisoned Xanxus.

"I am the Vongola Tenth!" he exclaimed, slipping the ring on his finger. For a long moment, nothing happened. When there were no adverse effects, Xanxus began to laugh, a wicked cackle that spoke of retribution. Tsuna shivered at the sound. Soon, though, a long chuckle was interrupted. Tsuna paled as blood dribbled out of his mouth.

It began with a low cough, but soon Xanxus had collapsed to the ground. His drawn-out, hacking coughs were disturbing and sounded painful. ' _What's happening?'_ she wondered. In the back of her mind, connections were being made. There was a reason she was the only candidate until now, and she didn't think it had much to do with Xanxus' violent tendencies.

No one better qualified could be chosen because Tsuna was the only person related to the Vongola Primo by blood. And there Xanxus was, clearly being rejected by the Vongola ring, a ring designed to only connect to people with the right blood.

"He's..." she hesitated. "He's not the Ninth's biological son, is he?" she realized, horror dawning on her as she covered her mouth with her hand. She rushed to him, kneeling to pull the wretched ring from his finger before it purged all the blood from his body. She let the ring drop to the ground between them. It splashed in the puddle of blood it reaped.

"No, dear Tsuna," a soft voice rang out. The Ninth, tired-looking and physically wrecked, stood at the edge of the arena. "You're right. Xanxus...Xanxus is adopted." Pinching the bridge of his nose. "Let's just say that he didn't take the news well."

"...the coup?" escaped her mouth before she could think more of it. The Ninth nodded with a grimace.

"In light of this new information, the Cervello must formally declare Tsuna as the heir of the Vongola famiglia," the judge said. "Now that that business has concluded, however, we really must tell you all why you're truly gathered here." Her eyes widened as the forms of the Cervello judges morphed horrifically into the familiar forms of the Vindice guards.

"What?" Tsuna whispered.

"Bermuda, what is the meaning of this?" Reborn demanded. Tsuna wasn't aware that they were acquainted, but seeing them now, there was definitely some history between them. It was almost like an electric current in the air.

"Reborn," her eyes widened. "You never told me you were an ex-lover of this weird Vindice guy!"

"Dame-Tsuna, please shut up," he sighed. Tsuna thought it best to be quiet, since it was obviously a sensitive subject. "What's your plan here? I thought you were happy with our arrangement?" At this, Tsuna's thought process shifted. Perhaps not an ex-lover, but a jilted hook-up?

"Yes, I was content to remove Kawahira's influence over those dreadful pacifiers, but now I'm feeling a little _jilted_. Why does your generation get to age and live the rest of your lives while I am cursed to this half-life in the prison? I was thinking, and it just didn't seem _fair._ "

"Can't you see? You've let the nature of your flames influence your actions! This is completely-" At that moment, the Vindice's strange flames were released, forming a blast so powerful that Tsuna completely blacked out for a moment, but not before holding on to whatever was nearest to her tightly.

When she came to, she seemed to be in an abandoned part of the school. The entire ceiling was wrecked by the explosion, beams sliding in to reveal the bright sunlight of midday. Tsuna tilted her head to look at the sky from her position on the hard ground.

Looking forward, she started at finding her fist closed tightly over Xanxus' wrecked form. His eyes were still closed from the ring incident, but she worried that he might be more injured than he looked.

"Xanxus-san? Xanxus-san, wake up!" she said, shaking his shoulder desperately. Maybe he was dead? She checked his pulse hesitantly, but a quick hand snatching her wrist halted her progress. Looking down, she saw Xanxus' eyes opened and narrowed in a fierce glare.

"Who said you could touch me, brat?" he demanded.

"Dude, sorry for caring if you were dead? Jeez..." she huffed. "Well, at least neither of us were injured too badly. We should probably get out of here to look for others...What?" she asked, finding his gaze locked on her abdomen. Looking down slowly, her jaw dropped.

Her body must be in shock or something, because she couldn't even feel the beam of steel impaling her body.

* * *

 **A/N: Alrighty, I actually wrote something down! Sorry it took me more than a week to update, I am a very bad person. Also, I am breaking the law by combining the Varia Arc and the Rainbow Arc, but too bad. And this won't really be the Rainbow Arc but you know, it be that way sometimes. Don't worry, I will do the Inheritance Arc at some point?**

 **Did u guys notice that I am not good at romance? I try because I like reading it, but I sincerely have no idea what genre this even is. It's sure not humor lmao. This chapter was kinda action-y, right?**

 **Side note: right now I have 69 favorites. Nice.**

 **Thank you to everyone who followed, favorited, and reviewed! 3**

 **To answer some specific reviews:**

 **SilverLight70- Yeah, those were her memories in the beginning of the chapter, but nobody saw them but her and Mukuro. At the time, I don't think he would have cared at all because his trauma, in comparison, is so much worse, I guess? Like bullying shouldn't be taken lightly, but it's much better than being experimented on. Her and Mukuro's relationship is kinda complicated. Thank you so much for all of your lovely words!**

 **Thanks also go out to PortgasDTatze, decimo2750, lovelydragonfly, Foxluna, yachiru-chan92, and foxchick1! ( ˘ ³˘) 3**

 **See ya next time!**


	7. Crimson Regret

Crimson Regret

A Red Flower

Your lips betray the secret of your soul,

The dark delicious essence that is you,

A mystery of life, the flaming goal

I seek through mazy pathways strange and new.

- _Claude McKay_

X X X X

"Mr. Stark, I don't feel so good," she murmured, fingers hovering over the terrible metal impaling her. What if she pulled it out right now? Just to get rid of this feeling inside of her, like she was both empty and terrifyingly full at once.

"What?" Xanxus asked. Of course he didn't get the reference.

"I'd say this is a bit of s tricky situation," she said, waving him off. At the very least, it wouldn't be that hard to remove. It was very sleek and smooth and absent of possible resistance. Her first time using the pull out method and she was still a virgin! (That was a joke, kids. Use proper birth control.) "What...what do you think we should do?"

"You got a phone on you? We could call an ambulance, I guess," he said. "Though, that's not a great option for multiple reasons, considering all the organized crime and property damage." Xanxus seemed very nonchalant about all of this, but she was at least grateful that he wasn't gleeful about her possible demise. If this had happened before the fight, he probably would have finished her off himself.

"I don't have my phone anyway. I left it in the stands so it wouldn't get damaged." Despite herself, she was slightly upset that her phone was probably destroyed during the attack. That was lame as hell. "And it's not like there's a trained sun or medical professional around here either," she said, looking around at the dank, empty room. What was this even used for, anyway?

Xanxus nodded, pulling a full cigar out of his pocket and lighting it with his strange flames. Now that he wasn't trying to kill her, she noticed their odd coloring. Wasn't he a sky, like her? Xanxus must have misread her perplexed look, because he offered her a smoke.

"No, thanks," she said, and he shrugged. "Why are your flames like that?" she asked.

"Like what, trash?" He bristled. "Oh, you mean how they're not pure sky flames?" She nodded, curious despite herself. At least in her dying moments, she'd get to learn something interesting. Better than nothing, she supposed. "Well, you know that sky flames have the characteristic of harmony, right? So you can blend different types of flames with them to produce an entirely new type of flame. My flames, The Flames of Wrath, are a combination of sky and storm."

"So, like, you're just mixing the two types of flames you have?" she asked.

He nodded. "Some people hypothesize that everyone has small parts of all the flame types inside of them. Really, the type of person you are is the only reason that one flame is more prominent in a you than the others. My most prominent flames are sky and storm, but I could have others hidden away somewhere just as easily."

"So, if we're going off of that, I definitely have sun flames, then," she said. His eyes flickered away from his cigar smoke to look at her warily, but he still nodded. " _Sooooo_ , I might as well try to summon some and heal myself, right?"

"Knock yourself out, kid. But remember some things before you try this shit out. First of all, there's no guarantee you're a sun at all, it's just theory. Second, even if you managed to activate some, it takes years of training to heal without doing more damage. Sun flames have the property of activation; they basically stimulate cell division. So if you overdo it-"

"You form tumors," she sighed. It had been a couple minutes since she'd been first injured. She was lucky that the wound bled so sluggishly, but already she was starting to feel the effects of blood loss. Either way, if she did it and screwed it up or if she just left it alone, she didn't have much time left. In the distance, she could still hear the battle raging. No one was coming to help her this time.

"Don't interrupt me, trash," Xanxus growled. "But anyway, it's your choice. To die slowly and live longer or kill yourself more quickly trying to heal." He leaned against the wall and crossed his ankles. Another puff of smoke floated past his lips.

"It's not like I'm gonna do _much_ ," she said, weighing the risks and benefits in her head. "I'll just stop the bleeding. And, like, aren't Dying Will Flames supposed to really work in a time like this? I mean, I'm _literally_ dying. I'll never get a better opportunity to do this! Yep, I'm doing it," she decided, looking at Xanxus. His eyebrows were raised in her direction and he seemed slightly annoyed. "I'm gonna need your help to get this thing out of me. What team?"

Xanxus was silent.

" _Wildcats!_ " she whispered.

X X X X

Reborn was kind of busy shooting Vindice guards in their treacherous faces, but he still made time to worry about his dame student. Where was she? Was she dead? Did she need his help? The last one was a stupid question, because she always needed his help. Looking around, he knew there was no chance that anyone could leave the battlefield and come to her aid. There was too much chaos and their opponents were too strong.

Thinking back to more than a decade ago, Reborn remembered how the Vindice were defeated last time. Before any of the Tenth Generation was born, when he was still cursed in a child's body and fate was still in the hands of one man. The only man he knew could end this in time for him to even have a chance of rescuing Tsuna.

"Checkerface," he muttered under his breath, damning himself with a name. "If you can hear me right now, then come. We need...we need your help."

In a swirl of shadow and light and time and death, a man with silver hair appeared and everything froze.

X X X X

"Alright, alright, alright. On the count of three, I'm gonna need you to do the deed," She said, her back to him. She could feel his hand on her shoulder, callouses rough against her smooth skin. It really was large. She felt like nothing when he was so near her. His other hand rested on one side of the steel beam, at the ready for any moment. "One, two, three-"

An agonized scream interrupted the trilling of afternoon birds.

X X X X

"Oh? What do we have here?" Checkerface asked, surveying the damaged landscape and the combatants stilled in the middle of their fighting. It was truly a mess. The undead army of Vindice guards against the Vongola Tenth generation, the last generation of Arcobaleno ever, and the Cavallone. Reborn hadn't known that there were this many Vindice rotting in the prison, but they all looked the same anyway so who was he to say?

"Could it be that the Vindice got a little antsy in their assigned roles?" Checkerface continued. "When we came to that agreement so long ago, I thought we were all happy. Or did you want me to step in again? Got a little anxious without dear old Daddy running the show, did you?"

' _If Tsuna were here,'_ Reborn thought ' _that Daddy thing would not be unremarked upon. After she'd stopped laughing, she'd-'_ Reborn shook his head slightly to regain focus on the situation at hand.

"You bastard!" someone hissed. Of course, Reborn knew it was no accident that they were allowed to speak when no one else could. Checkerface must have some sort of speech planned out.

" _Me_? A bastard?" Checkerface said incredulously. "Ah, ah, ah! If you all would just do your jobs, I wouldn't have to be here right now. Of course, if things go well and you respond correctly, all we'll have to do is _talk_ and everyone can resume their daily tasks that we agreed upon. If things get out of hand, however...Well, I can see plenty of promising Arcobaleno candidates in attendance. A shame that I'll have to go looking for that delightful Sawada Tsunami, though."

Reborn's heart clenched. The Tenth Gen guardians, previously confused into silence and stillness, also reacted rather badly. Some were very subtle, but of course Gokudera's entire face twisted into a snarl and Ryohei made to shout something. For a moment, he was grateful that under Checkerface's spell, no one could talk without his permission. In that silence, a scream rang through the air.

"That was her just now, wasn't it?" Checkerface said. "Hmm, I do hope she'll be alive to take the position. Of course, I'm sure we can find a replacement if pressed." Reborn tilted his head forward a bit and was glad that he was allowed to do so. If anyone saw the wet sheen coating his eyes, he'd never be respected again.

"Did I upset you?" he asked, looking at those struggling against their invisible bonds. Ryohei even had extreme tears running down his face. Reborn was sure that Mukuro was attempting illusions and failing, based on the glowing demon eye visible underneath his bangs. Most Vindice guards appeared subtly upset as well. Not specifically because of Tsunami, of course, but at the prospect of power returning to Checkerface's hands.

Of course the Vindice had still resented their lot in life when the agreement was worked out, but it was a minor grievance compared to what they'd gain. Over the years, Reborn guessed that the bitter nature of their undead, warped flames had caused that resentment to grow dangerous. Even so, he didn't think that was all to the story. What was the point of this? What did they have to gain besides killing the former Arcobaleno, people who had nothing to do with them besides escaping a curse years ago that they never could.

Reborn wondered who was behind this plan, because he doubted it was the usually level-headed Bermuda. There was a reason the Vindice handled the mafia justice system, and inability to think things through was not it.

"While we're on the topic of, well, you. What exactly was the plan here, my dear children? Force the Vongola to gather the Arcobaleno at the final battle, disguised as the encouragement of impartial judges. I admit that part was rather solid, though a bit ambitious. If I were you, I would have probably organized some sort of secret note and a tournament...Anyway, what was the next step? Just kill them, I guess?

"Did your resentment of me transfer to these poor folks in my absence? Did your rotting brains demand recompense in the form of their deaths? You're supposed to be a neutral party, to uphold the laws of the mafia world. Did your disgusting flames fill your thoughts so maliciously? Really, I wonder why you would jeopardize this system we worked so hard to come up with. Do you have anything to say for yourself, Bermuda?"

Bermuda seemed uncertain and confused. His eyes had clouded over worryingly. "When it's all laid out like this, I suppose…" he murmured. "I'm not sure-"

"Well? That's your reasoning? You don't know? It seems like a very drastic measure to take for no reason. Very drastic, indeed," Checkerface mocked. "It almost seems as though there might be some sort of other influence to blame." He winked at Reborn like they were sharing a secret. Only, Reborn wasn't sure exactly who the mastermind behind the scheme was.

"I'll tell you what, Bermuda," he sighed. "I'll let you off the hook this time if you return to Vindicare without any further incident and continue with your work. We'll forget about all of this. There were higher powers at work, I suppose." In Reborn's eyes, Checkerface was laying it on a bit thick with all these hints.

Bermuda nodded, there were no objections, and Checkerface smirked. He dipped so his face was cast in shadow and suddenly it was as if time had reset itself. The school no longer looked like a battlefield and all the damage was reversed. Of course, people still had bruises from their fights but it didn't seem like anyone was fatally injured. Notably, Checkerface and the Vindice guards were absent.

As was Tsuna...and Xanxus, Reborn guessed.

"Tsuna-chan?" Takeshi called. There was no answer.

X X X X

In the seconds before the steel was pulled out, Tsuna tried to focus on only one person: Reborn. There was no time to anticipate future pain when she was so busy trying to remember exactly what he felt like when he congratulated her on a job well done, or told her he was proud of her, or even comforted her when she made a mistake. How did he feel when he yelled at her, or forced her into marathons that she didn't want to compete in? What was the signature of his heart, his mind, his soul? What was it like to be the sun in a great blue sky?

When she finally spoke those three words, when she reached the end of the countdown, she closed her eyes and tried to change her soul into a star.

And suddenly there was a gaping hole in her body. The shock was gone and she could feel every broken blood vessel, every exposed vein, the bloody meat of her body against air that suddenly felt so cold. It was like there were a million straws inside her body, spilling blood on to the floor so that it splashed against cool pavement in a dusty room. She was sweating. She was crying. She opened her mouth and blood and saliva left her in a great upheaval that had her sobbing. She was desperate. She was afraid. She was going to die.

' _Reborn,'_ she thought, and felt a little warmth inside of her return. ' _Reborn, Reborn, Reborn, REBORN!'_ His aura flashed in her mind so many times that it was almost like he was there. There was the heat of a star around her. Was it really him? She opened her eyes but could only see yellow flames. No, Reborn had not come in person, but he had definitely just saved her life. She grinned, bringing her hand ever so slowly to the wound and released the smallest amount of power she could. It was almost like activating her mittens.

And then it stopped. Everything. The flames, the blood, the sheer desperation. All she had was her tears and her victory and all she was was a girl in an abandoned room.

She wasn't completely healed. She didn't really have the anatomical knowledge for that. She'd lost a lot of blood and she was sure there were some misplaced fluids inside of her. If felt like she had either broken, cracked, or bruised some ribs. But...she wasn't going to die!

"Fucking ow," she said, hacking up the thick blood still lodged in her throat. It's splattered on the floor and her mouth tasted like copper and regret. She was glad that no one ever came into this building because they would definitely think a murder had taken place. She touched her stomach with the gentlest hand she could. "Holy fuck! _Ow!_ " This mafia business sucked ass, but at least she would look hella hard with the stupid fucking scars she got.

"Wow, trash, Didn't think that was gonna work," Xanxus said, slow clapping. She had kinda forgotten he was there for a sec. "Well, I'm gonna go beat some motherfuckers back to their hole in the ground now that you're done with," he gestured vaguely to the puddle of her blood " _that_ , so. Don't wait up, I guess." And then he began to walk away.

"Xanxus! What the fuck wait!" she called after him, stumbling to her feet and feeling more blood dribble out of her mouth, which probably wasn't the best sign ever but who cares. "Take me with you, please! I promise I won't need much help but I also don't want to just fall down and die somewhere and I think we kinda bonded since you pulled a giant metal pole out of me and all-"

"Shut _up,_ trash," Xanxus said. He walked up to her, stopping not even a foot away. His tall form and the broadness of his shoulders consumed her small silhouette. He leaned down so his face almost touched hers, his crimson eyes narrowed. Daringly, she stared back, covered in her own blood and saliva and tears.

Xanxus' face was naturally scary, but the scarring and the animalistic feathers only intensified the vibe. But now, after the battle and him actually helping her, she could see the humanity behind his harsh exterior. Although he probably wouldn't have been upset if she died, he also seemed fine with her living.

Looking at his rough features, she wondered what it would be like to kiss the man before her. How different would it be from kissing Ryohei or Takeshi or Hibari. He would have experience, she could see it in his crimson gaze. What is the difference, she wondered, between a boy and a man's caress? Her gaze almost darted to his lips before she corrected herself. She had almost just died and this man had no interest in her. It was just the sexual renaissance, she told herself, and then cringed internally at her usage of Reborn's stupid phrase.

"You really think I'd help someone as pitiful and weak as you?" Xanxus scoffed after a pause. "In the Varia, we have a rule: only the strong survive. If I weren't here, you'd be dead."

He moved even closer and Tsuna flinched, closing her eyes to a blow that never came. She opened her eyes to find herself in the air, capable arms carrying her like a bride. She blinked for a moment at the feeling of being surrounded by his strength, looking up at him in confusion.

"Consider this payment for earlier," he said. Tsuna struggled to remember what he could mean. They fought for the ring, of course, and she won but his mist stole it and then he put it on and it rejected him. So she took it off...Was that what he was thinking of? Her interference in the rejection? It was true that he would have died from the purge of blood if she hadn't removed it, but she assumed he was unconscious at the time. "As for strong...I'll consider those sun flames a show of strength for now, kid."

Laying her head on his warm chest, she felt content as they started the long trek to their comrades.

X X X X

After it was established that Xanxus and Tsuna couldn't be found, the entire scene erupted into chaos. There was much so much disruption among the crowd that no one even noticed when a figure approached on the horizon, cradling a much smaller being. As they approached, the smaller's hand clenched around the fabric of the figure's chest, eliciting a 'Don't wrinkle my shirt, trash!'

"Oh, like this shirt's even wearable anymore," Tsuna snarked, gesturing to the blood stains, dust, and tears that littered it. Then, she returned her hand to its previous position with no opposition. Xanxus huffed and looked forward.

"I should just drop you," he said, loosening his grip.

"Wait, wait, wait! I take it back I swear! Damaged shirts are all the rage, now! They're like the new ripped jeans! Please don't drop meeee!" she whined. Xanxus didn't respond but tightened his grip again. She could swear she could hear him huff out a laugh, though that might just be the lung damage from all those cigars.

Reaching the edge of what used to be the arena, Tsuna waved her arm and shouted out a "He-ey!" No one heard her. Discouraged, she pouted up at Xanxus, who sighed.

"HEY, TRASH!" he yelled, voice booming over even the most distraught crowd members. Tsuna wouldn't be surprised if her mom could hear him from her house. The chaos abruptly halted.

For some reason, a lot of her friends were staring at her in disbelief. Now, Tsuna was aware that she looked pretty bad. You know, she was covered in blood and her clothes were ripped and she was also being carried by someone who was, quite recently, her enemy. But still, she didn't think she deserved all these looks.

"What did we miss?" she asked, cheerfully, a rivulet of fresh blood running down the corner of her mouth.

X X X X

"Dame-Tsuna, let it be known that you are a true idiot," Reborn growled. He paced the length of the hospital room unceasingly. Tsuna was becoming very tired of hospital rooms. Maybe she should plan ahead and bring some decor next time? "Do you know how dangerous what you did was? The possible side effects are-"

"I'm gonna stop you right there, chief," she interrupted. "Listen to this, my guy. I would have been literally dead if I hadn't pulled that witchcraft garbage. It was cool. It was fresh. I am not dead and that's great. Let it be known that I'm the coolest guy in Funk Town, will you? Sincerely, pass it on." Tsuna may be very drugged at the moment.

"Yes, I'm glad you're not dead," Reborn sighed, ignoring the rest of her statement rudely. "But, you really scared us."

"Yeah, it was pretty scary," she said. She remembered the feeling of emptiness, the rush of blood out of her body and onto the floor, how her body had simply failed because of some roof support. At the time, she couldn't really think about it. How her one action would dictate whether she lived or died. Now, in the dark whenever she closed her eyes, she could almost see the metal rod sticking out of her still. Yes, Reborn, it was pretty scary.

"Try to get some sleep, Tsuna," Reborn said quietly. His hand gently brushed her forehead before he flicked off the light. "Your friends will probably be in as soon as they're allowed, and you're gonna need some rest for that." She cracked a weak smile at his joke, despite knowing he couldn't see it in the dark. The door clicked closed behind him, leaving Tsuna alone in her bed, staring at the spot where he'd last been.

It was times like these where she still felt like Dame-Tsuna. She couldn't do anything to help her friends against an unknown threat because she was too busy almost being killed by an inanimate object. What kind of leader was she? She was alone in this hospital room and still as useless as she'd ever been. From the bleak hallway light, she could only just make out the outline of her own hands, clasped together on her lap. She closed eyes and clenched them tighter, hating how ineffective they were. The only-

"Hey, Brat. You awake?" a voice echoed from her side. She jumped, startled and almost fell from the hospital bed. Thankfully, a strong arm grabbed the collar of her shirt before she could. Looking up, she could only just make out Xanxus' disheveled form. Setting her on the bed and patting her head to make sure she stayed, he eased into the chair at the side.

"Dude, what the hell?" she asked. "Why are you- no, how did you even get in here?"

"Trash, our rooms have a connecting door. I just picked the lock," he said like it was obvious, holding up some sort of metal tool. Tsuna hadn't even known he was in the hospital. "I don't even know why I'm here. Who the fuck holds someone overnight for blood loss? He said, flicking on a lamp. "Anyway, sorry to interrupt your little brooding session but I'm bored as hell. Why couldn't have Levi left a book?"

"I don't think you're supposed to be reading with a concussion as bad as yours. Though, what can I say? I pack a mean punch," she deadpanned, holding up her fists like a boxer. "I call this one, uhhhhh, _Mad Max: Thunderdome_ and this one _Toy Story 3_!"

"Did you make those up on the spot? If not, you're really terrible at naming things."

"Dude, what? No way! Those are very significant to my character, obviously," she denied. "You know, like two men enter, one man leave. That type of shit just really describes me as a human. And, of course, whatever happens in _Toy Story 3._ It's, umm, really sad and I think there's a fire or something? Just really speaks to my soul, you feel me?"

"No, and if I had my guns right now I would totally shoot you," Xanxus said, palming his forehead in exasperation.

"Listen, man, you came here of your own free will. And I don't have any cards to play so I have to entertain you with words." He narrowed his eyes at her. "Speaking of words, how the hell do I work this ring?" she asked, grabbing the Vongola ring from her nightstand.

"How is that related to words?" he asked.

"Well, obviously I used words to ask you about it. Like, damn, bitch," she said under her breath. At his glare, she held up her hands and tried to look innocent. She had never been very good at whispering.

"Listen, I've never used a stupid conduit before to activate my flames and this stupid ring isn't responding to anything I do and I tried like 20 times. What the hell is the deal?" she asked, turning the ring around in her fingers.

"For most people, it's actually easier to summon their flames through some sort of conduit. Think of the Dying Will Bullet or even your lame gloves. The ring is a little more complex because you need to put most of the power you're gathering into it, instead of just enough to activate it. The ring is used to amplify your powers, not be amplified by them. Channeling flames into your gloves should be pretty similar, just think about it like that. What have you tried so far?"

"Umm, first of all, they're not gloves, they're mittens and they're totally cool," she corrected. "And I've mostly been putting the ring near my flames. I've tried talking to it, which was really embarrassing. Uhhh, I took a nap with it. That definitely didn't work. I cried on it, of course. I put it on and tried offering it my blood, but it didn't respond at all. This ring is way wack."

"I don't know what that fucking means. But anyway, for someone so gifted at control and intuitive use of flames, you're stupid as hell," he said.

"You think I'm good with flames?" She framed her face with her hands and preened.

"Hasn't your trash tutor ever told you that? Yeah, you're above average in the flame department," he growled impatiently. "I thought that was obvious when you did the impossible and healed your guts."

"Above average?" she squealed, lost in happiness.

"Wow, your self-esteem must be terrible, trash. Hey, hey, stop making that terrible noise! Oh my god," he said as she continued to celebrate. "You know, I kinda feel bad for you. You're not so terrible after all."

"You really know how to make a girl blush, Xanxus-san," Tsuna deadpanned, back from whatever fantasy she was previously entangled in. "And of course I have terrible self-esteem! I'm a teenage girl who was, until the very recent past, the victim of extreme bullying!" she exclaimed. " _Asshole,_ " she breathed under her breath.

"Well, if I'm an asshole, maybe I'll just leave" Xanxus said, standing from his seat.

"Wait! Don't go yet! What if this ring thing doesn't work?" she cried.

"No, it's too late, trash. I'm already gone." He turned partially from her and lifted his foot to take the first step. "Except, maybe if you…" he muttered under his breath.

"What? What can I do?" she pleaded, hands clenched in her sheets.

"I know you've got some books in here. Give me one and I'll stay and help you," he said, arms crossed.

"But they're my books! And you're not supposed to be read-"

"Alright, alright," he said. He held up his hands and turned to the door. "I guess I'll just leave and take all my knowledge about flames with me. You'll just have to wait for Reborn to teach you at his own pace…"

"That will take years! We're still on making my mile time quicker…" she said. "Fine, I'll give you _one_ book." She opened a drawer on the nightstand and rummaged through it for a moment. "Aha!" she said when she found the perfect selection, handing it to him.

" _Pride and Prejudice?_ " he asked. "How did you know this is my favorite book?" he said, lips curled in glee.

"B-but I thought-" she stuttered, only to be interrupted.

"Oh? Did you think old hypermasculine Xanxus couldn't appreciate the writings of Jane Austen? Awfully _prejudiced_ of you, wouldn't you say?" She couldn't think of a way to respond.

When she was a little girl and Nana's mother was still alive, she had told her that she should marry a man that loved Jane Austen. Tsuna actually got her love of old literature from her grandmother, and she thought it was so romantic that Grandma had known that Grandpa was the one because she discovered that he adored _Mansfield Park_. In her heart, she had always thought that her true love would love _Pride and Prejudice_ as much as her. Obviously, this didn't mean anything. Xanxus was much too old and mean for her and liking a classic romance novel wasn't the basis of soulmates, was it?

"I guess you're right," she said clearly, shaking her head to banish those silly thoughts. "Anyway, let's do this ring garbage." She slipped the ring on and channeled her flames into it, imagining it as her gloves. The mechanics were slightly different, but now that she knew what to do it came fairly easily. Perhaps because of her supposed natural talent?

When she opened her eyes, however, she wasn't in the hospital room.

A meadow with an unchanging horizon stretched on all sides of her. There was nothing around for miles except long grass, wild flowers, and a clear blue sky. Looking to her right, she was relieved that she wasn't alone. Her hand was clasped with Xanxus, though she remembered him being at least a couple feet away from her in the real world. For whatever reason, they were both dressed in white.

"Where the hell are we?" Xanxus asked, reaching to palm a pistol that wasn't there.

"Tsunami, how nice of you to join me. And it seems you brought a friend along as well!" came a voice from behind. She turned to see tea and finger sandwiches arranged on a small table with a few chairs. In one, there sat a male version of herself.

"What."

"Hello, dear one. I'm so glad we can finally meet," he stood pulling out a chair for her to sit in. In a daze, she did so obediently. "I'm the Vongola Primo, but you can call me Giotto. I'm so pleased to see you."

* * *

 **A/N: Hi welcome back to I'm Bad at Writing. This took a while, mostly because I like to sleep and I'm also an asshole. Anyway, who knows what's going on? Not me! Love you guys, see you soon. Have a great day and life! Follow, Favorite, and Review if you want to. I know most people don't read my author notes anyway but I sure do have fun typing them!**

 **Thank you to everyone who followed, favorited, and reviewed. I would kiss you all but alas we are separated by screens. And it would be unsanitary.**

 **Special thanks to lovelydragonfly and lucky4love101 for reviewing since last chapter!** **( ˘ ³˘)**

 **Love you all and see you next time!**


	8. The Holy Roman Emperor

The Holy Roman Emperor

 **warnings: p much just swearing**

 **disclaimer: I don't own KHR, like, at all.**

Leda and the Swan

A sudden blow: the great wings beating still  
Above the staggering girl, her thighs caressed  
By the dark webs, her nape caught in his bill,  
He holds her helpless breast upon his breast.

How can those terrified vague fingers push  
The feathered glory from her loosening thighs?  
And how can body, laid in that white rush,  
But feel the strange heart beating where it lies?

A shudder in the loins engenders there  
The broken wall, the burning roof and tower  
And Agamemnon dead.  
Being so caught up,  
So mastered by the brute blood of the air,  
Did she put on his knowledge with his power  
Before the indifferent beak could let her drop?

 _-W.B Yeats_

X X X X

"Dear, how do you take your tea?" Giotto asked, smiling. While she watched him pour, the teapot seemed to melt, dripping on to the the table and drying into shiny glass puddles. In a moment, however, time had reversed itself and the teapot was whole again, once again pouring steaming liquid into her cup. She noted that it was a particularly terrible shade of powder blue and wondered if she had ingested any hallucinogens.

"Two teaspoons of honey, please," she said, but noted that none was present on the table. She was vaguely disappointed, but a second after a pot of honey appeared in front of her like it had always been there. Then she blinked and it was hovering in midair five feet from the table. Then it was back in its original position. Was this some weird version of a bugged-out Skyrim?

"I drink my tea plain, by the way," Xanxus said. She had almost forgotten he was there since the Primo's reveal and all of the strange glitches in the fabric of the universe. She turned to look at him but he didn't look like he'd noticed anything suspicious at all. Tsuna was genuinely concerned about her mental state now. "Thanks for asking."

"Would you mind explaining how we got here?" Tsuna asked after watching Giotto's facial features twitch slightly off of his face. Beside her, Xanxus sipped his tea, perplexed, maybe, but ultimately nonchalant. Perhaps he was used to situations like these. "Or, exactly, what _here_ is?"

"Just a moment, sweetheart," he said, but did nothing immediately following the statement. She noticed that his eyes were glasslike and at times his silhouette would become hazy. At the moment, he faded slightly into the blue sky behind him while he stared blankly into the distance. Tsuna was definitely getting weird vibes right now, though her intuition was conspicuously silent.

"Old man?" Xanxus prodded. Giotto blinked and stiffened suddenly, his eyebrows furrowing and his mouth pressing into a hard line.

"Oh, how rude!" he said. She noticed that when he spoke so angrily his eyes would grow bigger than they naturally were. For a moment, the big blue sky around them darkened to pitch black, not a star in sight. Not even the moon existed. The meadow of wildflowers and tall grass had deteriorated into an empty field. Tsuna felt like she was being watched. And then, suddenly, the meadow was back like it had never left. "Why, back in my day-"

A cloud moved from covering the sun, and Giotto blinked. His eyes seemed more alert and he eyed them with alarm. "What? How long have you been here?" he asked.

"What the actual fuck," Tsuna said, though it came out more like a hysterical laugh. Xanxus continued to sip his tea. In her mind, she wondered if Xanxus was real or if he was just another hallucination of this charming hellscape. Just to make sure, she pinched him.

"Ow! What the hell, brat?" Xanxus complained.

"You're taking this way too calmly. Clearly you're AI," Tsuna said. "I've seen and written fanfiction about _Ex Machina_." The second part wasn't true because she hadn't really liked it enough to write fanfiction about it, but he didn't need to know that!

"How is that a way to see if I'm real?" Xanxus said. He seemed rather whiny to Tsuna, but if she told him that he would kill her so she refrained. "You're supposed to pinch _yourself_ if you're dreaming, dumbass."

"I already know I'm dreaming, _obviously_ ," she said. Jeez, this AI guy really didn't know shit. "I wanted to know if you were really here, and if wacko McGee over there is any indication, the fake people of this world aren't very good." She continued, "So obviously they wouldn't be very good at reacting to pain. See, simple as that!"

"Did I pass the test, asshole?" he asked. She was tempted to say no, as that was exactly what an AI would say, but she nodded instead and was about to elaborate when-

"If you people are done, I'd like to know what you're doing here," Giotto ordered.

"No, we're not done, you-" Tsuna started.

Xanxus intervened, "Actually, we don't know that either." Tsuna pouted at the interruption and sipped her weird glitch tea.

"You're Timeteo's boy aren't you? The one with the, um…" he trailed of. "It was an X name...Like Xander but with more X-es involved…"

"Xanxus," Xanxus helpfully supplied.

"Yes, Xanxus! So nice to meet you," Giotto said. "And you're Tsunami, right? The next boss?" he asked. "I'm sorry your accommodations have been so...unreliable. Things in here have been a little unorganized ever since his last visit. And, of course, I'm certainly affected considering I'm just a projection of a dead man's general personality. But still, I've been losing days a lot lately."

"So...what is this place?" Tsunami asked. This time, she'd hopefully receive an answer.

"Here?" Giotto pondered. "I suppose the easiest way to explain it would be to say that your consciousnesses have been projected inside of the Vongola ring. This landscape and myself are artificial programs designed to help the next ring bearer and boss adjust to their title. That's why I, the first Vongola leader, was placed here—to instill the values of our famiglia. Though, that hasn't really worked very well…I'm sure you know of the Second boss."

Tsuna nodded.

And so Giotto—or the weird construct of Giotto—wove tales of vigilantism and honor and everything the mafia was not. Tsuna knew that the Vongola had such roots before, but hearing it from the Primo himself...she thought, for the first time in a while, that everything might turn out okay. The mafia was involved in a lot of things Tsuna didn't want to touch: sexism, murder, sex trafficking, human experimentation, etcetera. For a long time she doubted whether she'd be able to change the system from within the system, but hearing Giotto's message, her resolve strengthened.

"And that's why-" Giotto abruptly cut off, eyes widening. "I can't believe I forgot to tell you!" he exclaimed as the sky turned to pitch behind him. In the darkness, his blond hair and blue eyes became so bright that Tsuna could actually see him as a construct instead of the man he was supposed to be. "Tsunami, you're in grave danger."

"What," Tsuna said.

"The ring, it didn't used to be like this. These glitches are abnormal; my programming is faulty. I've existed in this state for centuries. This isn't normal deterioration. Someone has been confusing the ring." His voice seemed almost distorted and a blood red moon drifted above the horizon.

"Who? Who is it?" Tsuna asked, gripping Xanxus' hand in hers. She was afraid to be trapped here. Agonized screams began to echo through the meadow and the greenery withered and died.

"I'm..not...sure," Giotto said, blinking away the glaze over his eyes. "Somehow, he feels familiar to me," he smiled like a reanimated corpse. Who was speaking now, Giotto or the man behind the scenes? Tsuna wondered. "Be careful when looking into the mist, dear Tenth, my virgin queen. You just might lose yourself in it." There were the screeches of tens of millions of the damned.

And then she was back in the hospital room.

"What the fuck," Tsuna said. Xanxus was silent and when she looked over at him he was dead asleep. His head was a heavy weight against her thighs. If Xanxus was asleep the whole time…"Holy gnome fucker, that bastard was totally an AI!"

Xanxus lazily swatted at her, presumably to tell her to shut up.

Tsuna pouted.

X X X X

"Alright, suspect is a mist, presumably aware of the ring's properties. Also, he doesn't like the Vongola and, by extension, would appreciate my death. Also he's a man," Tsuna explained. Her guardians, except for Lambo because he probably wouldn't get it anyway and Ryohei for whatever reason, and Reborn were gathered. Xanxus was still hanging out in her chair and they currently played a game of Go Fish. She was losing pretty badly.

"It's the pineapple," Hibari growled, refusing to elaborate further. He leaned on the wall beside her bed, away from most of the room's occupants. His hand, however, rested on her shoulder and every once in awhile he would pet her hair like she was a cat. It felt pretty nice and it wasn't like she was gonna fight him over it. She was already in the hospital.

"Awww, is the skylark angwy?" Mukuro mocked. "And it couldn't be me. As you know, I'm out of town pretty much permanently. Besides, the little Vongola is my ally now," Mukuro purred, eying her. She sent him a thumbs-up. Hibari's hand tightened around her shoulder in anger and he took a step closer to Mukuro. She placed her hand over his and surprising a deathmatch did not start. Yet.

"Any twos?" she asked Xanxus over the room's heavy atmosphere.

"Go fish," Xanxus said. He was laughing at her pain. His next turn, he got like four matches in a row. Tsuna took a deep breath as an ugly flush crept up her neck. Today was really not going her way.

"SORRY I'M LATE. THERE WAS A BOXING CLUB MEETING," Ryohei busted in, almost knocking the door of its hinges. "TSUNA-CHAN! I'M EXTREMELY GLAD TO SEE YOU'VE EXTREMELY RECOVERED!" She was flattered that the sentence garnered more EXTREMEs than usual.

"Thank you, dear. That means a lot to me," she said. She hadn't been able to hang out with him in a while since she was so busy being a mafia man. They should go see a movie together after she's cleared from dying. "Ryohei-kun how do you feel about Oscar-nominated Wes Anderson movies?"

"WHO?"

"Great!" she said.

"How can you tolerate a turf-top like him?" Hayato sneered.

"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY, OCTOPUS-HEAD?"

"I SAID-" Hayato was interrupted.

"My guys, my dudes, my comrades-in-arms, who cares about any of this?" Tsuna cut in. "Like, for real, you guys could have no hair and I would still like you. It's like how Xanxus stole my jello yesterday. Did it make me angry? Kind of. Am I too busy worrying about this mist guy to retaliate? Yes. Will I do so anyway? I think that answer to that is also yes. But that's not the point. The point is that sometimes you get offended, like when the Primo called me the queen of the virgins, but you also shouldn't hit them because they are AI or something. That one really got away from me…"

"I'm sure Primo did not call you the queen of the virgins. And if he did, he did not mean to offend. Being a virgin was good back in the day," Reborn said. "And what Dame-Tsuna is trying to say is: she's very stressed and would really appreciate everyone's cooperation and cordiality." Wow, Reborn was such a great guy to have around. She curved her hands into a vague heart shape and smiled at him. "You're welcome, Tsuna."

She secretly thought that his caffeine addiction meant he didn't have to sleep so he was twice as efficient as a normal man. That was a bad conspiracy theory though since she had actually seen Reborn unconscious before. He snored pretty loud.

"Yeah, let's be nice around Tsuna-chan!" Takeshi grinned. Tsuna watched in dread as his input launched another round of loud and violent squabbling. Takeshi's voice really ticked Hayato off, and Hayato ticked Ryohei off, and Hibari got angry because of the noise and fought Mukuro who fought back with little resistance, and Tsuna also lost the game of Go Fish. She closed her eyes tried to forget everything that was going wrong. Xanxus probably cheated anyway.

"Guys," she called. Amazingly the fighting paused. Hibari was still clutching Mukuro's neck like he was a rubber chicken, but you can't win 'em all. "We're not done yet."

"The Ninth just called to inform me that the Inheritance ceremony will take place in a week," Reborn announced. "Tsuna will officially be declared the tenth successor of the Vongola Boss title. The title can only be taken from her in the event of her death. Although she is the only person who can physically be the next boss, there will be assassins there. Just a warning so everyone can prepare themselves adequately."

Tsuna wondered whether he meant for them prepare themselves for fighting or prepare themselves for her death.

"Thank you, Reborn," Tsuna said. "Xanxus has also promised me that the Varia are no longer trying to murder me since we're homies now. Right?" she asked him only to find his eyes on her newly-distributed hand of cards. "That's how you won! I demand a rematch and a reshuffle and a re- a re-!" she struggled in anger.

"You were holding them completely parallel to the ground, brat. It was hard to _avoid_ looking at them. It was honestly kind of pathetic; I thought you were doing it on purpose at first because it was so weird and terrible," Xanxus said. "Also, no one allied with me is going to try to kill any one you unprovoked. Except Bel, maybe, but that guy's a loose cannon at the best of times."

Tsuna tried to remember who Bel was.

"It's not my fault my mom thinks playing cards is satanic! I haven't had, like, any practice." It was true. While Nana was easy-going in most areas, she had been raised by very conservative parents. Tsuna had never even been inside a church, but some stuff just stuck in Nana's brain. That was why Tsuna had only played cards a couple times in her life. Not even Uno!

"Tenth!" Hayato exclaimed. "How are we even supposed to trust this guy? He's the one who put you in here in the first place!" His ears and cheeks were flushed red and his eyes were almost tearing up. Tsuna actually respected Hayato a lot for being so passionate all the time. It must be pretty exhausting.

"Hayato-kun, you know I love you and respect your opinions," at her words, he flushed a much more becoming light pink all over "but Xanxus isn't the one who put me in this hospital. A steel beam did," she nodded very sagely. "Indeed, I can't even be mad at that steel beam, because it was probably just as uncomfortable being inside of me as I was with it being inside of me. And I was very uncomfortable. Sincerely. Can I blame it? No, I probably should just be better at landing.

"Although Xanxus tried to kill me, I still trust him. A good portion of this room has also tried to kill me, or at least grievously injure me. I don't really blame any of you, nor do I distrust you. In fact, if I hated everyone who tried to murder me, I wouldn't have very many friends. Which might say something about me, now that I think about it. So it's time to stop this train of thought! Have any fives?" she asked Xanxus.

"Sometimes I wonder how someone as stupid as you managed to stay alive for so long," Reborn muttered.

"Yep! It's a mystery!" Tsuna smiled.

X X X X

Eventually, Tsuna was released from the hospital and allowed (read: forced) to resume Reborn's training regime. It mostly included daily marathons and trial by hellfire. Consequently, she ate almost exclusively superfoods and protein in an effort to maintain her body weight. She had, like, five full meals a day and she was pretty sure if she didn't eat that much she would die. Like, she was not making gains. She was toned for sure, but she was certainly not big. Tsuna assumed that part of Reborn's job was to make her appear traditionally pretty and feminine.

If Reborn was taken as an example, then image and style are very important form mafia men.

So she was walking to school one morning, drinking a spinach and peanut butter smoothie that was mostly spinach while Hayato and Takeshi argued behind her about nothing. She would have made a kale smoothie, but kale does not chop smoothly or nicely. It's like the Judas of smoothie ingredients, since you expect it to be okay but it actually totally ruins the whole deal.

Was that blasphemy?  
So, there she was, walking as usual, when she heard a commotion in one of the alley ways. This particular alley housed some rough memories for Tsuna, as some boys used to beat her up pretty frequently there on her walk home. Being a certified strong person™ now, she went to check it out and found her same old harassers beating up a redhead boy. She motioned for Hayato and Takeshi to be quiet and follow her lead.

"Hey, what the hell are you doing?" she said.

The taller one looks up and smirks at her.

"Eh? A cute little girl has come to save the shrimp?" His eyes travel farther and widen as he catches sight of Takeshi and Hayato, both significantly more intimidating than her. "Yamamoto? What are you doing here?"

"I should be asking you that, senpai," he said. "After all, if the coach found out about this-" he gestured to the scene "-you'd be off the team." Tsuna never knew that the asshole senior was on the baseball team. There were some perks to hanging out with a jock.

"Yeah, Yamamoto. Is she your girlfriend?" the shorter one asked. "If so, I have seniority so I call dibs-" He's cut off by Hayato's punch to the face.

"Hey, what the hell-" the taller one shouts. Takeshi quickly seizes his collar.

"Don't you _ever_ talk about the Tenth, or any woman, like that again!" Hayato snarls, stepping on the shorter's chest. Tsuna walks past them to the boy as Takeshi knocks the other one out cold.

"Hey, do you need help standing up?" she asks. "Those guys used to beat me up all the time. It was pretty rough." The boy looks to the alley's entrance as if to escape, but turns to look at her with distant eyes. "My name's Sawada Tsuna."

"Kozato Enma," the boy says quietly, and takes her offered hand.

Tsuna didn't even have to spill her smoothie to deal with those guys, she thinks as her lips curl.

"It's nice to meet you. I hope we can be friends."

X X X X

Things were quiet for the next few days. There were no fights, no one died, and Xanxus hadn't even shown up once. (Though that wasn't very reassuring. It was better for Xanxus to be in her presence where she knew what he was doing than for him to be MIA so she could only imagine the chaos being wrought on Namimori. Perhaps that was also why she hadn't seen Hibari in a while.)

It turned out that Enma was actually a transfer student to the school and he brought some strange friends along with him. (Speaking of the strange friends, they were probably another reason for Hibari's strange absence. The tall girl seemed pretty sus.) Although she liked Enma, she could never have too much trust in a transfer student, especially one that came in a group.

"Reboooooooooorn, are the new students here to murder me?" she called, pulling on some running shoes. Today was the day she graduated to running a billion miles to running a billion miles while dodging bullets. Reborn said that this time they would be rubber, but tomorrow...She wondered if his entire budget was devoted to the sole purpose of torturing her. Maybe that was why he required food and board.

"Probably not, if you don't do anything stupid," Reborn answered. Tsuna felt that was pretty vague. Who were these people? How did Reborn know them? They were almost certainly from another famiglia, and the timing _did_ coincidentally line up with her inheritance ceremony. Also, what counted as stupid? She did stupid things all the time! When she was about to ask, Reborn said, "Your boyfriend is here!" which totally interrupted her thought process.

"Which one?" she muttered under her breath. She was still worried about dying at any moment, but not as much as she was previously. Thus, she had far more time to concern herself over her "romantic issues." Her maybe falling in love with five boys and maybe Xanxus, though he didn't _really_ count, kind of Chrome though she didn't see her much, and, of course, Dino that one time, was problematic. Even though she was biologically programmed to have a lot of romantic partners, she didn't really have time for them.

Like, she was almost constantly in a position of fighting for her life and her right to party. She didn't even have time for one boyfriend! Like, Hayato and Takeshi were fine since she saw them at school all the time. Ryohei was maybe pushing it since he was in the grade above her and so involved with the boxing club. Hibari was almost a definite no because he was so busy ruling the school with an iron fist. Mukuro was trapped in prison, though she guessed he did have a lot of time to astral project to her. Xanxus and Dino, though they didn't really count, lived on a completely other continent. And Chrome went to another school and lived in an abandoned theme park.

Maybe this was what Giotto meant when he called her the Virgin Queen? How was it even possible for her to exist in the state of having multiple people interested in her while she couldn't even give them the attention they deserved? How was that fair to them? And furthermore, emotionally she was experiencing a weird double standard (made by herself, no less!) of liking multiple people romantically, but not being okay with someone she liked liking someone else. Even the thought of it made her sick to her stomach. Sincerely, how was any of this okay?

 _What kind of boss am I?_ she lamented, covering her eyes for a moment and breathing in. Then she went downstairs and tried to stop thinking for a moment.

"Oh, hey, Ryohei-kun!" she greeted. She'd forgotten that she invited him on runs with her, but seeing him made her smile. Maybe it wouldn't be so hard if she could combine her famiglia duties with her romantic entanglements.

"I am a master of time management," Tsuna said. She noticed that in her doorway's frame, he seemed taller. Had she not noticed him growing? Instead of responding, Ryohei leaned down and kissed her. It was very extreme.

X X X X

Glaring at the students emptying out of the classroom, Tsuna leaned against the teacher's desk. Although teacher's switched classed every period, Hyuuga-san always brought little decorations with her. On her desk currently was a little statue of a snowman. Its beady eyes mocked her relentlessly.

"Sawada, I'm sure you're aware of why I asked you to stay after," Hyuuga-san said sternly. "You never turned in the last book report, your grades have taken a recent dip lately, and you've been tardy almost every day this week. I'd like to know what's going on. Is it drugs? The Yakuza? _Boys?_ " Personally, Tsuna thought that was a weird escalation but chose not to comment.

"I'm sorry, Hyuuga-san," Tsuna said. "I'll turn in the book report as soon as I can. I just- I've had a lot on my mind lately." Hyuuga-san was actually very understanding and kind to her. She didn't make her make up all of the work she missed during her hospital visit (unlike other teachers) and only selected a few key assignments she thought crucial to Tsuna's learning experience. She meant to finish the book report and had already written most of it, but she'd been so tired lately...It was really a wonder that it slid under Reborn's radar. But he had also been busy with the inheritance ceremony…

"I've done my best to support you as a student," Hyuuga-san said. "I know that school isn't your favorite thing, but I think you have some real talent in reading comprehension and literary analysis. You're a smart kid, Sawada, even if you're not the greatest scholastically. I was glad to see you make new friends and come out of your shell, but don't forget that school's important too. I know it might seem like you're learning things that don't matter at all, but there are lessons hidden in there somewhere and it will help you advance further in the world.

"I don't know if you know this, but I had your mother in school too," she said. Tsuna had not, in fact, known that. "She wasn't the greatest student but she had a good heart. I think that's something you inherited from her. This is just some advice from an old woman, but don't forget the kindness she instilled in you.

"Now, with that being said, I'm still going to punish you for your poor performance in class," she sighed. Tsuna was mildly affronted but didn't protest. "I've seen you around the new student Kozato Enma. I'd like you to show him around, make him more comfortable here. He reminds me a lot of you, actually." She smiled and winked, "If you turn in that book report tomorrow, I'll see what I can do about those late deductions."

"Of course!" Tsuna smiled. It was nice to be a teacher's favorite for once!

X X X X

"How's it going, Kozato-kun?" Tsuna called, lengthening her strides to catch up to him. His shoulders were slumped and his face seemed permanently etched into a grimace. Like, he didn't even react at all when she talked to him! "How are you liking Namimori so far?"

"Um, it's fine…" he said. Tsuna wondered whether he hated her or was just antisocial. At the moment, she was assuming he was shy and trying her best. He paused for a long moment and seemed to be thinking of something else to say. "H-how are you today, Sawada-chan?"

"You can just call me Tsuna," she said, smiling. "I'm actually pretty good. Ya know, like, I'm living my best life! Trying not to be horrifically murdered for circumstances outside of my control and all that!" Enma blinked in confusion. "You know what, forget that last part. You doing anything after school today?"

"Tsuna-san, you're not too bad," he said instead of answering. She didn't know whether to be flattered or offended, but she still caught him when he tripped over nothing. Looking at his meek posture and bandages, maybe, just a little bit, he reminded her of herself. And her heart softened once more.

X X X X

Annoyed, Tsuna waved away the pink smoke surrounding her to find herself in a very large bedroom. Sincerely, the bed must have been, like, two kings pushed together or something. Looking around, she was glad to note that at least the bed was empty except for her. Suspiciously, she exited the room and tried to figure out where the hell she was.

Opening a set of heavy double doors, she found herself in a familiar boardroom filled with the same cast of characters from last time. Only now, she recognized them all. It was strange to see all her friends aged, though they didn't really look that different from their teenage counterparts.

"Little Vongola?" Mukuro asked.

"Sup, my guys," she greeted. Looking down, she realized that she was dressed in a cow onesie, which was actually pretty embarrassing. It wasn't her fault that Lambo liked to play dress up! "So sorry I'm not dressed for the occasion. I left my business formal outfits at home." In the cow world, this would probably be considered business formal though. And it would be considered casual. And every other category, since cows don't usually wear clothes.

"It's fine, Tenth!" Hayato exclaimed. Glad to know he hadn't changed much. "If I had known, I would have also worn a cow suit! I'll go change right now!"

"Please do not do that, Hayato-kun," she said. "Now, I may not know all that much about the mafia, but I am a pretty hip teen! If you have any questions about social media or, I don't know, how to turn off autoplay on Youtube, I'm here to help!"

"Dame-Tsuna, you're not funny," Reborn said, suddenly appearing behind her. She squeaked. Sometimes she wondered if her intuition was so shitty around him because it wasn't adapted to recognize literal demons. "I heard that."

"That doesn't even make any sense!" she cried.

"Maa, sometimes I forget how small Tsuna was," Takeshi laughed. Tsuna resented that. "Well, not that she's grown much now…"

"Don't speak about the Tenth that way!" Gokudera growled. "She could be the tallest woman in the world if she wanted to be!"

"OCTOPUS HEAD, THAT DOESN'T MAKE ANY EXTREME SENSE!"

"You don't make any extreme sense, asshole!"

"Maa, maa, calm down!"

"For crowding and disturbing the peace, I will bite you all to death."

"Why don't you just calm down, Skylark? You're always so _harsh_ , it's a wonder why the little Vongola likes you at alllll."

"Die."

Honestly, not much had changed in ten years.

"Hmmm?" by now, Tsuna would have usually been sent back to her own time. Maybe she was just off? But she waited a few more minutes and nothing happened. Before she was sent here, wasn't Lambo talking about some new developments in the tech his famiglia made? And the bazooka had looked kind of strange this time around…

So there she was, trapped in the future in a cow onesie while a boardroom raged with violence and magical fire all around her.

"Damn, this probably isn't good," she said.

"Kufufu," Mukuro laughed weirdly.

"What a cool development!" said no one, as this was not cool. She had school tomorrow!

X X X X

"Sooooo," older Tsuna said. "Seems like I'm still here."

Reborn smacked her in the head.

* * *

 **A/N: Hi! Sorry it's been a while. I have no excuse; I've just been feeling a little blocked lately. As the story draws closer to the end, I'm going to try and focus a bit more on the romantic elements. Like, I don't think the romance between Xanxus and young Tsuna will be super explicit or even really noticed by him. At this stage, it's pretty much gonna be her crushing on an older man. Older Tsuna and Xanxus, however…**

 **And I know I don't mention Chrome a lot. I'm sorry if she's your fav, she's just not mine. I like her well enough, I just don't think she and Tsuna would have a very interesting dynamic and idk I just lose track of her a lil bit. Besides, she's, like, busy going to school and being a squatter.**

 **So, yeah, I've got some plans and stuff. Love you all, see you next time, all that jazz! I'm blowing you all kisses but you just can't see it!**

 **Thank you to everyone who followed, favorited, and reviewed!**

 **Special thanks to Pixiecropse, lovelydragonfly, and AdictaMoon for reviewing since last time! 3**


	9. Perceived Reality

Perceived Reality

Excerpt from Rhapsody on a Windy Night

Twelve o'clock.

Along the reaches of the street

Held in a lunar synthesis,

Whispering lunar incantations

Dissolve the floors of memory

And all its clear relations,

Its divisions and precisions,

Every street lamp that I pass

Beats like a fatalistic drum,

And through the spaces of the dark

Midnight shakes the memory

As a madman shakes a dead geranium.

 _-T. S. Eliot_

X X X X

" _To be or not to be, that is the question."_

 _Tsuna found it rather melodramatic, but still watched with wide eyes. On stage, a lone man stood, lit startlingly by a single spotlight. In his hands, he gently caressed a human skull. Strangely, his features reminded her of someone, though she knew she had never met him. But_ he _felt familiar to her. She knew, maybe, how it felt to be influenced by him, but it was ill-defined._

 _He turned to face her, his piercing eyes meeting hers. They were cold. She was the only audience member in a hall made for hundreds, and he was only drawing attention to that fact._

 _She closed her eyes for a moment, forehead wrinkling. She didn't like these illusions. She wished for this dream to end. When she blinked them open again, he was much closer than before._

 _Now, they were on the stage together. If she looked from the corner of her eye, she could see herself in the audience._

" _To be or not to be, that is the question," he repeated. And instead of a thoughtful introspection, as written by Shakespeare, he was directing it to her. What was that supposed to mean?_

 _He wasn't looking at her anymore, but she could feel his hands against her head. She paused. Her blood ran cold. She realized that she was the skull._

Tsuna gasped awake and tried not to throw up over the Gigantic Bed of the Future. She rubbed her forehead tiredly, smoothing out the creases. Maybe, in the future, the next _Game of Thrones_ book had come out? (And yes, she knew it was actually called _A Song of Ice and Fire_ , you losers.) It's not like there was much to do in the here anyway.

She tried not to think of the dream.

X X X X

"Umhmm...Yes…." Tsuna pondered before speaking. "In your future, I see good fortune! Your lucky color this month is...tangerine. No! Nectarine! Yes, if you wear nectarine all this month, you'll ace your midterms for sure!" Tsuna gestured in what she considered a mystical way.

"Nectarine isn't even a color, Dame-Tsuna," Reborn said after the poor girl left. "She definitely paid too much for that."

"Hey, I'm the most authentic fortune-telling experience there ever was!" she protested. "People should be paying me millions, but what do I charge? Just five dollars a reading! A real steal, I'd say. And anyway, how many time-travellers do you see with enough time to own a small-business?"

"I don't think _this_ counts as a business," he said contemptuously, like Tsuna hadn't done an awfully nice job with her simple set up. And it was out of the way of the main street for some added authenticity (and perhaps because she lacked the proper permit).

"I just don't know why you always have to be so mean to me," she pouted. "I'm twenty-five, now! Shouldn't you support my decisions a little?"

"Did you seriously just ask me that?" he scoffed, flicking her forehead and disappearing into the throng of the crowd. She would call after him, but a nervous-looking boy had appeared before her place of business.

"Ohhh, love problems?" she asked with a smirk.

"How did you know?" he asked, handing her five dollars.

"I'll tell you a secret, kid." She gestured for him to come closer. "I'm from the future."

X X X X

The future was kind of cool as fuck, honestly. All the Kentucky Derby winners from the past ten years were memorized and she'd researched if there were any major economic bubbles as well. Even though she was heir to some old (as in ancient) money, it couldn't hurt to make some bank on her own. All this research was done in secret, of course, since the future people were "very concerned" with "preserving the integrity of the space-time continuum." Like, they obviously weren't very concerned if they let her near one of their weird complex computers!

The future people mostly left her alone. Which, you know, was kind of nice. It was strange to catch a glimpse of one of them out of the corner of her eye, watching over her while giving the illusion of privacy. Seeing Gokudera's eyes or Ryohei's hands made her feel less alone for a moment before she realized they weren't _hers_. They were so familiar, yet so achingly strange. It was unnerving, to say the least—the Uncanny Valley.

In modest terms, the Vongola Mansion was oversized. The architecture was clearly influenced by Renaissance-era Italy (she even thought she spotted an Albertinelli hanging on one of the walls). She wouldn't call it gaudy, per se, more...opulent. Her bedroom—or at least the bedroom of her older self—was decorated in a more traditionally Japanese manner. It was simple and that alone relaxed her a little.

Even there, however, shadows loomed from every corner. An ever-present sense of doom plagued her, not helped in the least by her recent dreams. She found herself absentmindedly wandering the halls often, only to wind up at an old portrait of Giotto. She hadn't even known it was there before she stood before it. This happened four times the first day.

His painterly eyes were as empty and glasslike as the facsimile that resided in her ring. It actually rested on her thumb, since it hadn't been fitted properly to her hand. Once, she thoughtlessly slipped it onto her ring finger. She'd looked down at it then, a mockery of a wedding band—a bad omen. Her tie to the Vongola, of fire and blood.

She didn't leave her room often anymore.

There was a great fear in her heart. Eventually, she knew, she would face the man who haunted her dreams. Who manipulated her mind like it was his right. And when that happened, she wasn't sure she could win.

X X X X

When it was determined that her return to the future would not be soon, Iemitsu invited Nana on a cruise to end on an undetermined date. Secretly, Reborn thought the woman so oblivious that she wouldn't notice her daughter aging ten years in a night. But that was rather mean.

"Back in the day," Tsuna said, "I could've used this opportunity to throw a total rager. I _wouldn't_ have, but I could've." She pouted, poking at her future phone that didn't work through time travel. "Now all the people I could invite are either ten years younger than me or ten years younger than me and on another continent! And, you know, I'm an adult who doesn't have to have parties in her mom's house. I have my own house now."

"Do you have parties in this house of yours?" he asked, flipping through the newspaper.

"Well, no," she admitted. Reborn smiled. Sometimes this Tsuna was so strange to him. He missed all the events that changed her from _his_ Tsuna into the woman sitting next to him now. But in moments like these, he could see that she was still Tsuna, despite being a decade older.

"How's the inheritance ceremony gonna go?" she said after a moment of silence. "Aren't people, like, gonna notice that I'm not fifteen?"

"Well, I suppose we'll have to get you back to the future before we find out."

"Dude, _Back to the Future_? We should totally rent that movie!" she said. "For research purposes, of course."

"Yes," Reborn sighed. "I'm sure that's the breakthrough those scientists working on the bazooka need."

X X X X

"Aren't you a bit young to frown like that?" a gruff voice came from her side. Today, she sat in the gardens. In spite of her fear, the sameness of her room began to bother her and she finally left for a reprieve and some fresh air. The sunlight felt nice against her face and the flowers were vibrant and beautiful. Maybe it wouldn't be such a tragedy to live here after all.

"What's wrong, kid?" Her attention was called back to her visitor.

"You're Bouche Croquant, right? The Ninth's Mist?" she asked. Reborn had drilled a lot into her head, but he stressed political allies and enemies above all.

"That's right, little miss," he said, sitting down in the metal chair next to hers.

"I've had some trouble with mists lately." A flash of her Hamlet crossed her mind before she forced it from her head.

"I'm not going to hurt you, at least," he said. Maybe it was because he was so old, had served the Vongola for so long (even if he was in service to the damned Ninth), but the words eased her heart.

"Thank you," she said quietly. "Would it be weird if I told you what really troubles me? It's kind of heavy for strangers."

"You could call me any insult you could think of. You could beat me all you want. And I wouldn't protest. You're the heir to my Sky. I'm here to serve."

"That's terrible," she said, wringing her hands together. To be devoted to the point of allowing mistreatment. What kind of service was that? She'd let her guardians know that they would never have to deal with that, though she doubted she would have to bother with Hibari or Mukuro.

"My duty's a great honor, little miss. It'd be a disservice if you made it out to be a punishment." He looked into her eyes and she tried to understand. She wasn't sure if she did.

"I'm sorry," she said and he nodded. "I'm afraid I'm going to face someone soon and he'll...he'll be able to make me believe things I don't want to. I think I'll fail against him and everyone loyal to me will die in my name."

"Hmm," Bouche Croquant pondered. "Your thoughts are indeed heavy. But I think I have some advice for you." His scarred face softened for a moment. "There's only one thing to do when you're afraid: improve. You have allies here and spending time alone in your room, afraid, won't help you. You only need to ask, and we'll help."

Tsuna stood. Bouche Croquant was taller than any man she'd ever met, including Xanxus. When she stood and he sat, she could look him in the eye.

"If what you say is true, sir. Then, please, um, teach me the ways of the mist?"

The proposal was a bit awkward, but he still smiled. The scars on his face seemed to stretch painfully, but his eyes were kind. He nodded.

X X X X

"Ninth, I'm not sure that's the best idea," Reborn said over the phone. Eventually, he hung up with a sigh.

"What was that about?" Tsuna asked, flipping some pancakes. She asked, but she could probably guess. Back when she was fifteen and got back from the future, she was told a pretty basic explanation for everything that happened in her absence. The outcome of this battle was already decided, and it was written in her blood. Nothing the Ninth or Reborn talked about could change anything. Because fate, especially when in the hands of a great mist, often worked opposite of what people wished.

"The Ninth is aware of the strange happenings around our Tsuna lately and he thinks he knows who's behind it." He rubbed his forehead tiredly. "And he wants you to fight him instead of Tsuna."

"Seems like a solid plan," she said. "Why are you opposed?"

"Maybe it is a good plan," Reborn admitted. "I just don't think it's going to work."

"Well," she said. "There's not much to do about that. And there's no real point in worrying either. The only time you should probably worry is if I start to fade from existence…" She paused for a moment looking at her hand. "Oh my god…I think I am."

"What?" Reborn asked, grabbing her wrist.

"Just kidding, man. It's all good. As the great philosopher Noel Miller once said: _They feelin' like I'm outta sight because they focus off. I see you countin' dirty money, boy, who's really washed?_ "

"I don't know what that means."

X X X X

It was night in the garden.

Candlelight flickered, casting strange shadows on the walls in the shapes of tall, ghastly trees. She closed her eyes against them, a fine layer of sweat coating her skin. She could feel everyone around her: the servants asleep in their quarters, her guardians, ever watchful, and Bouche Croquant.

"The mist is incorporeal but still ever-present. The mist doesn't lie; it obscures the truth.

"Imagine a coin in your hand. What is its shape? Imagine dropping it into a glass of water. In your hand, it's small and definite. You know this. In the water, it distorts—becomes larger than what it truly is. In order to control the mist, you must be aware of it. You _know_ coins don't grow in water, but a mist will make you think they do. The mist must fool others while knowing the truth: the difference between the perceived and the real. Just like the mist knows the truth, you must know it as well to ever hope to escape an illusion."

"Well, yeah, I _know_ about water distortion and stuff, but what if it's not common knowledge?" she asked. "Like, the mists I interacted with build whole worlds-"

"But you should've recognized you weren't in those worlds. You should've remembered reality, and not been lost in a dream of another's creation.

"Just like a coin doesn't grow in water, and two and two don't make five, no one can transport you from one place to another in the blink of an eye. If someone told you two and two make five in a dream, you would believe them. Because you _don't_ know the basics. Common sense doesn't exist in illusions."

Tsuna's fingers twitched with the effort it took not to clench her hands into fists. She'd been working on conjuring mist flames for days! Sure, sky flames had taken her years, but at least then she'd had an excuse. She knew she _had_ mist flames, since Bouche Croquant had done some weird mafia test on her. (Honestly, she still believed that skies could use all the flames because of their harmony factor.) Maybe it was the element least connected to her?

She was a figurehead. Tuna Fish, Dame-Tsuna and The Tenth. She was always noticed. Even when her peers despised her, they never left her alone. ( _Her_ , among the hundreds of similarly-skilled kids in the school) She was the only heir to an ancient mafia family that she truly had no obligation to. She was the big blue sky that people couldn't _not_ look at.

And maybe that was why she couldn't grasp the mist. Bouche Croquant always spoke of how the mist was intangible. All-consuming, maybe, but unable to be truly grasped. Fine dew and coolness.

She thought of Mukuro, more distant from her than any other guardian. She rarely saw him, unlike even Hibari who she often caught glimpses of around school property. Most often grievously injuring someone. He always seemed like he was hidden from her, like he wore a mask of cruel humor and indifference. And when she got close—when she kissed him—he slipped between her fingers as easily as his element.

She remembered holding the sun in her hands. It was much easier.

But maybe that _was_ really the point. That the mist and the sun were not only different in properties, but also in the way they must be approached. The mist actively obscured; it was unreachable. So maybe she should stop trying to reach it.

Although it went against every instinct she had, she let the flames elude her. She let herself be surrounded by the idea of them, but never tried to cage them. The mist was vapor. Indefinite. In order to wield it, she could not go against its nature. She accepted the ambiguity.

Her eyes blinked open when the courtyard cooled. The flames of the candles burned lavender and hundreds of distorted coins sunk in the garden's fountain.

X X X X

"I wonder how Tsuna's doing," Takeshi said. At the end of every week, Reborn gathered all the guardians at Nana's house to inform them of any new developments. There weren't usually many.

"She's going through a training montage," Tsuna said distractedly as she twisted the controller in her hands. She didn't usually hang around the young guardians since it was pretty awk. Like, they didn't really know her and while she knew them, it was just weird to talk to them when they were fifteen again. Like she wasn't the Tsuna they wanted to hang out with.

But anyway, she usually played Mario Kart with Lambo, since he was a bit young to worry about anything that was happening. And he thought of her as his Tsuna-nee, at least. Whenever they played, she would have to veer wildly off course every once in a while, so he never lost hope. The distance between them was never very great and he even passed her once in a while.

She never let him win, of course. He was spoiled enough already. But frustration with losing never helped anyone grow.

"That was a tough one!" she exclaimed as her Princess Peach took first once more. Lambo came third but didn't seem too put out.

"Another round! Another round!" he demanded as she put on Moo Moo Meadows.

He was the only guardian from this time who seemed to know how to deal with her.

X X X X

 _She was standing on the sky, hair dangling to the ground below as gravity flipped. She took a step forward, and then another. Where was she going? And where was she a moment ago? Her mind was telling her that she had always walked on the sky. She couldn't remember a time where she hadn't. But something wasn't right. There was a fog clouding her brain. But she tried to push through it. She closed her eyes and imagined walking on the earth._

"Good, little miss," Bouche Croquant said. "That took about five seconds for you to break."

"But, sir, I could be killed in seconds," she protested.

"You're making steady progress, girl. It does you no good to be dissatisfied with yourself," he scolded. "You've got a good grasp on flames for such a young person." He was the second man to tell her that, but she still blushed. It was nice to be good at something for once.

"I'll tell you what," he said. "By the end of tomorrow, I think you might be able to resist the illusion entirely. And after that, we can work on illusions that don't break after you're aware of them. Mastering that will probably take the rest of the week." He noticed her face fall. "If you're still here, of course."

"I'll be done with this by noon tomorrow," she vowed. She thought about all her past interactions with mists. They had been able to control her so easily. The only reason she was still alive was because her death didn't fit into Mukuro's plans. She clenched her fists. It was so awful to be tricked like that—for her own mind to betray her for the enemy.

X X X X

"Who the hell are you?" Xanxus said. It had been very startling to see him in her house uninvited. Mostly because she forgot he wasn't in Italy. And like, for someone who hadn't even been around for days, he was acting weirdly entitled.

"Bro, what the fuck are you doing in my sister's house." It's not like he would know Nana was an only child.

"Are you that brat's aunt?" he asked and smirked. "Who knew the kid had such smokin' relatives?"

She valiantly resisted the urge to make earnest fun of him, but had to lift her hand to cover her smile.

"Does that work for you often?" she asked.

"What can I say? Chicks dig scars." He stepped closer to her, brushing her hair behind her ear. This would probably seem pretty predatory if Tsuna didn't actually know him. "I'm Xanxus." His deep eyes bore into her, warm palm against her cheek. He still dwarfed her. (Unfortunately, Tsuna didn't grow much after she hit fifteen.)

"I'm Nami, Nana's sister." Reborn had worked out a cover story for anyone not in the know. Though she felt kind of bad lying to Xanxus, since she really did trust him. But she also doubted he would flirt with her if he knew her real identity. And she wanted to live out her teenage fantasy of getting that dick, you know? "I'm house sitting." Tsuna hadn't flirted in _years_. She tried to smirk in an attractive manner. She wasn't sure it was working.

"If you're not too worried about the house getting into trouble while you're gone for a few hours...maybe I could buy you a drink."

Tsuna discreetly looked around for a sign of Reborn. He'd said he would be "handling business" (or whatever that meant) for the next few hours, so she'd probably be cool. And besides, she was a grown-ass woman! Reborn didn't get to decide where she could and couldn't go! (Although he did still do that in the future.)

"Sure!" she agreed, grabbing her keys. She made to step out of the door, only to confront the nervous, young face of Enma. "Um, hi? Did you need something?"

"Umm," he said nervously, shifting from foot-to-foot with a red face. "I was, uh, wondering if Tsuna was home? I wanted to talk to her. Um, ma'am."

"Sorry, no. She'll be away for a while, unfortunately," she smiled at him. Nothing that happened (or, was going to happen?) was truly Enma's fault, after all. "Do you need me to tell her anything?"

"N-no, that's fine," he said quickly. "Thank you, but I'll just talk to her when she, um, gets back, I guess." He frantically fled her porch and disappeared around the corner. Suddenly, Tsuna felt a little sad but knew that she wasn't the one who could fix things this time. Her younger self would have her work cut out for her, but what happened would come to pass, whether she willed it to or not.

"So," she turned back to Xanxus, "where were we?"

X X X X

When her fingers grew to a foot in length, she immediately recognized the illusion. She waited for it to disperse like all the others had at the moment she found them out, but it remained. She held her hands out in confusion, her long fingers flopping uselessly to the floor.

"What is going on?" she said. Although it was slightly unnerving, waving around her weird, useless, noodly hands was pretty fun. "Oh…" she said. "Didn't he say we were gonna work on this stuff...I'm kind of stupid." She sat down and tried to grasp soft grass in her hands but her weird fingers were being very uncooperative.

"Sir Croquant, you didn't even give me, like, a lecture about this," she sighed. "How am I supposed to know what to do?" He didn't answer her. Which was expected, but still mildly disappointing. Even if he did, he'd probably say some bullshit about how she should just listen to her heart.

It's not like she had any other ideas, though. She closed her eyes and meditated for a while. Although she wasn't magically gifted the answer to the universe, she did find that she could activate her flames and even feel Bouche Croquant's flame signature in the illusion. She wasn't sure how that helped her, though.

Hmm...She activated her mist flames. And while nothing really changed, she _did_ turn her hands back to normal. She was kind of surprised it worked. She could feel her flames covering his flames covering reality. So she could pile illusions on top of illusions (which seemed slightly unwise), but she couldn't figure out how to break them.

But the interesting thing was, his illusion and her illusion didn't touch. If she brushed against the illusion with her flames...Yes! It wavered all around her. It was kind of like her battle with Xanxus, in that her will had to be the strongest to win. Although mist flames were dissimilar to the flames of the sky, they both _were_ based on dying will.

The illusion didn't have a definite shape, which was strange. She had to imagine one for it. In her mind, she visualized a sphere that represented Bouche Croquant's flames, and then molded her flames to cover it from the inside. She tried to press gently at first, but that certainly didn't work. She was panting at how much force she had to use before the bubble popped. And then she was free.

She opened her eyes to Bouche Croquant's expectant face. He seemed very pleased, like he was about to congratulate her. But before he could, she crumbled. He caught her upper arms before she could collapse to the ground, so she leaned against him instead. She sobbed, ugly and terrified. He seemed terribly confused.

"I-I just ha-a-ate illusions so much!" she cried. "How am I even supposed to kn-now if this is real? Maybe it's j-just another illusion I made? What if I'm still there, sir? How can I know? H-how do you guys do thi-is?"

"Just _breathe_ ," he said. She hadn't noticed how close she was to fainting from hyperventilation before he said it. "I don't think you were born to be a great mist, despite your prowess."

"Thank _God_ ," she said.

X X X X

It was the day of the Inheritance Ceremony.

"I don't think anyone's gonna be fooled," Tsuna said. Sure she hadn't changed that much since her teenage years, but she had definitely grown enough for people to doubt she was fifteen. (She didn't like to brag, but she was a B-cup now, suckers!) She just didn't have the youth in her anymore. She looked like an adult; she doubted she could even pass for an early-bloomer.

"If we tell them you're fifteen, they'll believe it," Reborn said, adjusting his fedora so it shadowed his eyes at the right angle. How didn't he get how lame that was?

All she had to do was walk on stage, smile, maybe thank everyone for coming, get old blood (?), and formally be the next boss!

Obviously this did not happen.

X X X X

Bouche Croquant was very good at crossword puzzles. Every morning at the breakfast table, he'd complete them at lightning-speed in a black pen. He was so good he never needed to erase. She'd look over his shoulder as he completed them in awe.

"I've never heard of any of these people," she said as he filled out another row. There were a lot of dead Italian singers.

"I'm still surprised you can read this," he said. Reborn had been teaching her Italian since she'd met him and she'd been learning English in school for much longer. They were pretty similar, so it wasn't that hard to pick up the gist of what the hints said (though she couldn't understand the puns). It wasn't really amazing, since she didn't know a lot of the rarer words and she couldn't speak well at all. Her and Bouche Croquant always spoke in Japanese.

"Yeah," she said. "Have the scientists made any progress?" She'd been in the future for a week.

"Hmm, maybe," he said, scrawling in something about football (not the American kind).

"What are you going to teach me today?" she asked when he didn't elaborate.

"Today?" he pondered. Fifteen across: win that brings little actual gain.

"I know that one!" she exclaimed. "Does hollow victory fit?" Sir Croquant took a moment to translate it from Japanese to Italian, and nodded. She only knew that because Reborn forced her to read a lot of mafia history books and that was the kind of stuff they talked about.

"Very good," he said. "And as for today, we'll be too busy for a lesson. You'll have to fill in for your older self at a ball. The heir to one of our allied families is turning eleven."

"Ew," Tsuna said. "That sounds majorly lame."

X X X X

So, yeah, Enma was a traitor. Obviously.

Maybe Tsuna was being unfair, but she liked to think that even without her knowledge of the future she would've been able to tell he was planning something. Like, his demeanor, the fact that he transferred to her school, how he showed up way before the other families. He was totally sus from the beginning!

And he had some weird thing about her dad, which was fair. She wasn't that into him either.

But anyway, here's the tea:

 _Tsuna's Fight Highlight Reel! *_ _。 ﾟ_ _*_ _ヾ_ _(_ _ゝ_ _з_ _・_ _)_ _ノ_

Some dick kidnaps Chrome! _Goddamnit!_

Her guardians get some sick jewelry and weird flame animals! _Victory!_

Ryohei doesn't win but he also doesn't lose. _That's fair!_

Lambo and Gokudera win! _Victory!_

The stupid bitch that kidnapped Chrome is actually a different stupid bitch? _Fuck mists!_

 _This concludes Tsuna badly summarizing her own life events. Come back next time!_

"So I guess you're the guy I _really_ have to fight?" Tsuna says, her guardians and the Shimon at her back. It was kinda weird that young!Tsuna wasn't there for the weird Primo memories and didn't even really know the Shimon but it would work out. They were probably more for the Shimon, anyway.

"Although I was expecting the younger model, I suppose you'll do," Daemon Spade hissed. "Now-"

Tsuna disappeared in a cloud of pink smoke.

X X X X

Wearing silk was fucking weird, man. Some ladies had taken off her body hair and the strange, cool fabric was only highlighting the loss. She felt hyper aware of her own skin, in a way she wasn't sure was good or bad.

But anyway, Tsuna was all cleaned up and dressed in a blood red gown. She assumed the flashiness was to distract from her teenager-ness. But over all the chatter and tasteful string music, she had a bad feeling. She kept having visions about Primo and some guy who looked like Enma, she had fake nails on, and she was at a goddamn _ball_!

What was she even supposed to do? She didn't have any boss training. Reborn never taught her diplomacy in between threatening to shoot her and really shooting her! And she didn't understand how anyone was buying that she was twenty-five! Surely these people had met her before?  
"This fucking sucks," she whispered to Bouche Croquant. She was trying to stay out of sight, but the red dress just made her an easier target. At the beginning, the Ninth talked, she smiled, and they tried to present a united front. She fucking hated the guy though, so it probably looked like she was trying to kill him with her eyes alone.

"A few more hours, little miss," he said. She could tell he was trying to look disapproving but a smile pulled at his lips. "And then I'll teach you some parlor tricks as a reward. Just try not to look like you're plotting a murder." Tsuna felt warmth flow through her veins. How would it be, to return to the present where she knew him as a friend but he didn't know her at all?

"Thank you for being my friend, Sir Croquant," she said.

"There's no need to thank me, little miss," he said. "It's been an honor to teach you."

And then, before she could respond, an ever-so-familiar shade of pink engulfed her. And when it cleared, she was surrounded by faces of her own time. Her guardians, Enma and Co., Reborn, and the demon from her nightmares. She felt like she was trapped in the dream again.

 _To be or not to be?_ She thought, a skull trapped in his terrible hand.

* * *

 **A/N: Hello! It's been, like, ten years, I know. But I only got over my writer's block a couple days ago. And I've been writing in the time I haven't been studying for midterms. I know, like, excuses, excuses, excuses. But I just wasn't feeling it for a while.**

 **Not a lot of romance in this chapter but, you know, they were kinda displaced. I was thinking about it and I think Bouche Croquant might come off as kind-of a villain but that is not what I was going for! He's just nice and old, I promise.**

 **But anyways, thanks for reading and favoriting and following and reviewing!**

 **Special thanks to lovelydragonfly, pupstarstar, TomRiddlesTwin, and RainbowMaze for reviewing since last time!**

 **To answer a specific review:**

 **RainbowMaze- thanks for being so nice! I hadn't thought about an Arcobaleno story til you brought it up, but I think it would be cool once I finish** _ **Nectarine.**_ **I think I'll let the readers decide whether they want it to be AU or canon. Love you!**


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